Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) blasted President Joe Biden over his administration's approval of the Willow Project, a large-scale oil drilling venture that has stoked the ire of environmentalists.
Markey — who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety — panned the move as a grave injustice and an "oil stain on the administration’s climate accomplishments" while underscoring Biden's past commitment not to greenlight “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters."
INTERIOR APPROVES GIANT ALASKA OIL PROJECT AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIONS
"Approval of the Willow Project is an environmental injustice. The Biden administration’s decision to move forward with one of the largest oil development projects in decades sends the wrong message to our international partners, the climate and environmental justice movement, and young people," Markey said in a statement.
A number of environmental activists and progressive members of Congress railed against the project, which seeks to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day on five drilling pads and 500 million barrels over its lifetime. Project organizers had lobbied the government for approval for years. Some Democrats, such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), backed the measure.
Biden's recent moves on the Willow Project, crime, and immigration have been widely viewed as a lurch toward the center ahead of his expected 2024 campaign launch. But the maneuvers have rankled some progressives.
ConocoPhillips and Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation sought approval of the project. Under the Bureau of Land Management's approval of the project, three drilling pads were given the go-ahead, while two were denied. Still, Markey was displeased.
"This decision not only leaves an oil stain on the administration’s climate accomplishments and the President’s commitment not to permit new oil and gas drilling on federal land, but slows our progress in the fight for a more livable future and puts into harm’s way the neighboring Native Village of Nuiqsut and the Arctic landscape," he added.
Earlier in the month, Markey and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, penned a letter to Biden alongside 20 of their colleagues urging him to reject the Willow Project.
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Biden's administration was mired by surging prices at the gas pump during its first two years in particular. Some projections indicate the project could unleash 9.2 million metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, akin to 2 million gas-powered cars, CNN reported.
"I am in solidarity with the community of advocates who oppose this disastrous decision and will continue fighting alongside them to put our people and our planet ahead of the profits of Big Oil," Markey added.