President Joe Biden officially approved a permit for an enormous oil project on federal land in Alaska last week. Run by oil company ConocoPhillips, the Willow project sits on land leased to the corporation for oil development decades ago, in the 1990s.
We know a lot more now than we did then.
For instance, we know that climate change, caused by burning carbon-rich fossil fuels like oil and coal, has already harmed millions. Just last month, first lady Dr. Jill Biden visited Kenya and witnessed the destruction caused by severe, long-lasting drought in east Africa. She called for increased international aid for the region: “People are starving,” she said.
We also know that climate disasters today and in the future will be deeply unjust and racist, harming low-income communities and people of color far more severely and widely than richer, whiter populations. The people most harmed by climate change are also those who have contributed least to global emissions.
Finally, we know that, in order to mitigate even more devastating crises, we need to stop burning fossil fuels now. Really, we needed to stop decades ago; scientists, including some at Exxon, correctly predicted climate change as far back as the 1970s. But right now is the only option we have.
Which is why President Biden needed to stick to his 2020 campaign promise: “No more drilling on federal lands, period.”
To be clear, there are reasons the Willow project got approved. The Biden administration said its hands were tied legally, since ConocoPhillips already had the lease. And the project has widespread support in Alaska, including from some — though not all — Alaska native leaders, many of whom see it as an economic lifeline. ConocoPhillips says Willow could create as many as 2,500 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs.
Those are important considerations. But they can’t outweigh the fact that we have to stop building new fossil fuel projects. There’s no other way to save our children’s futures.
We know a lot more today than we did two decades ago, both about how dire the situation is and about how to fix it. Climate change is already contributing to drought and starvation in a region whose people contributed almost nothing to the emissions problem — and that’s just one of thousands of similar crises.
Our world is stuck in an incredibly deep climate change hole. At the very least, we need to stop digging it.