10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS TAKE ACTION A plea to the Biden administration: STOP the Willow Project On Monday, March 12, 2023, President Joe Biden approved a large oil drilling bill which will ultimately produce poison, destroying the environment and permanently damaging the climate of our planet (over a quarter of a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions). The Willow Project bill approved the drilling of 68,000 acres of Alaskan land. The Willow drill plan is deemed controversial due to not only its projected detrimental effects on the environment, but also by the ethical injustices the wildlife living in the area would face. Many Biden supporters feel betrayed as he has strayed from his anti-drilling on federal lands stance that he touted during his 2020 campaign. In fact, the Biden administration is defending the former Trump administration by green-lighting the project. This decision was exactly what many were voting against. In the current age of climate protests, environmental activism, global warming and a push for sustainable energy, it is maddening to see yet another plan approved that will LILA HARRIS U-M student contributor further destroy the place we call home. The space that is keeping us alive. The plan is to drill on the ConocoPhillips petroleum reserve, which happens to be close to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, in Alaska. Drilling oil for the Willow Project will release thousands of millions of metric tons of pure carbon emissions into the atmosphere, and would completely destroy the surrounding area of the reserve and the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. The area is an essential home for wetland species, as well as a habitat for caribou and other wildlife that Native Conoco-Phillips drill site in the Western Arctic. Photo credit: EarthJustice How can it be considered morally or League, the Arctic climate of the area is essential for the breeding of important and endangered species, including caribou, waterfowl, loons, eiders, shorebirds, polar bears, wolves, musk ox, brown bears, foxes and more. The Willow Project would require “a new oil and gas processing facility, massive satellite drill pads with up to fifty wells on each pad, a spider web of roads, a new airstrip, pipelines, and two gravel mines within a protected river setback.” What does this mean? Displacement, if not death, for many vulnerable species, and complete destruction of these areas. ethically justifiable to destroy the habitats of endangered wildlife? It cannot be justified. The Willow Project capitalizes on the beautiful environment that we humans live in and completely take advantage of. What do we want our future to look like? What can we do to fight against the Willow Project? Protest! Sign a petition; you can find it at Change.org “Stop The Willow Project.” Visit stopwillow.org to learn how you can be a part of the fight to conserve and protect the Western Arctic. Retweet, repost and spread #StopWillow. Write to your senator or representative. Make your voice heard. Stop The Willow Project. communities rely on. According to the Alaska Wilderness MAY 5, 2023
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