Judge dismisses challenge to Willow project

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US District Court Judge Sharon Gleason has dismissed two environmental lawsuits challenging the Biden Administration approval of the Willow project in the corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The litigants, one of which is a group that has no actual legal standing in Alaska or with the federal government, had sued because they said the Biden Administration didn’t taken greenhouse gas emissions from Willow into consideration, and that the project would contribute to climate change. The groups said that the project might damage environment important to polar bears and other animals of the Arctic.

The decision will probably be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court.

The Bureau of Land Management had approved three drilling sites for a total of up to 199 wells that could produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day during peak production.

19 COMMENTS

  1. Lets just continue buying our oil from the middle east. Lets continue to support the countries that need the money to buy armament to continue their wars that will soon be upon us…….

  2. Anyone here heard of Pantheon or Energy88? They are both exploring and drilling on state land close to the Dalton highway and the pipeline. Big oil find that could produce 120k barrels per day just for Pantheon. They plan to start delivering soon by truck as they develop and explore.
    Energy88 is a little behind Pantheon because they started later. The two have agreed to share well data.
    The biggest deal about this is the closeness to the highway and pipeline which allows immediate delivery and considerable less cost for development and less immediate “lump sum” to develop.

    • And, as you noted, both projects are located on State land, which will significantly reduce their environmental reviews. This alone reduces their costs for permitting and to some degree, lessens the litigation challenges that have plagued work in the NPR-A and Coastal Plain.

    • Yep and it was found three or four years ago ! No investment capital for north slope from lenders . No roads to access one of the biggest oil finds in years . It’s on state lands just west of the haul road ! Shallow find as well ! It’s funny as found in ConocoPhillips back yard ! Makes me wonder if it was being warehoused or they have incompetent staff . Either one is bad

  3. Don’t worry , a well funded environmental groups army of free lawyers will throw a monkey wrench in ! That’s what we have now in America ! It’s like a room with 100 adults sitting quietly and an infant screaming at the top of its lungs , all the attention goes to the infant ! That’s what these powerful minority groups of anti oil are all about . Throw in some appointed left leaning judges, and stopped again ! I doubt very much that any oil will be produced at Willow , ever ! I hope I am wrong !

    While the courts , the Feds and these wacky environmental groups fight oil development in one of the cleanest , safest oil producing areas of the world , Alaskas north slope , the big finance company’s have stopped all capital investment in Alaska for extracting oil . Our permanent funds are invested with these capital groups ! Should be widely known , but it’s not .

    • Dan, I don’t disagree with your sentiments here, but on a different note, what is up with your odd spacing of every punctuation mark? If you will notice this, and every other comment, as well as pretty much anything at all written in the English language, the punctuation marks go DIRECTLY after the preceding word, with no space in between.

  4. We need to go full speed ahead before the next challenge. Then ignore the courts as the project has already mostly done.

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