Biden administration approves Alaska oil project
The Biden administration, brushing aside pressure from environmentalists, on Monday approved a controversial oil drilling project on Alaska's North Slope. The Interior Department gave the green light to US energy giant ConocoPhillips to drill for oil at three sites in the federally owned National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska's pristine western Arctic. During the 2020 presidential race, Joe Biden had vowed not to approve any new leases for oil and gas projects on federal lands and his administration had been under intense pressure by environmental groups in recent days not to approve the so-called Willow Project. Alaska lawmakers and other backers of the project defend it as a source of several thousand jobs and a contributor to US energy independence, with production of 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, or some 576 million barrels over 30 years. (AFP)