Judge says Alaska's Willow oil project can proceed
The massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope can move forward, a federal judge in Anchorage ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejected the claims of environmental groups, who argued the government’s decision to approve the ConocoPhillips project didn’t adequately consider its contribution to climate change and potential harm to the region’s threatened polar bears.
Related Knowledge Center: Arctic energy development
The Arctic region of the United States has been both an important source of crude oil and the subject of unending political debate because of that oil.
The Prudhoe Bay oil field, along Alaska’s northern coast, for years accounted for about 20 percent of the nation’s oil production. Because of that production, the industry and its allies long have advocated exploration in the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, about 65 miles east of Prudhoe.