| Willow project | |
|---|---|
  Location of Willow project | |
| Country | United States |
| Region | Alaska North Slope |
| Offshore/onshore | Onshore |
| Coordinates | 70°17′N 151°55′W / 70.283°N 151.917°W |
| Operator | ConocoPhillips Alaska |
| Field history | |
| Discovery | 2016 |
The Willow project is an oil drilling project by ConocoPhillips located on the plain of the North Slope of Alaska in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska entirely on wetlands. The project was originally to construct and operate up to five drill pads for a total of 250 oil wells. Associated infrastructure includes access and infield roads, airstrips, pipelines, a gravel mine and a temporary island to facilitate module delivery via sealift barges on permafrost and between waters managed by the state of Alaska.
Oil was discovered in the Willow prospect area west of Alpine, Alaska, in 2016, and in October 2020, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved ConocoPhillips' Willow development project in its Record of Decision. After a court challenge in 2021, the BLM issued its final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) in February 2023.
Alaskan lawmakers from both parties, as well as the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, have supported the Willow project. In March 2023, the Biden administration approved the project. Environmentalist organization Earthjustice immediately filed a lawsuit on behalf of conservation groups to stop the project, saying that the approval of a new carbon pollution source contradicted President Joe Biden's promises to slash greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and transition the United States to clean energy; Judge Sharon Gleason upheld the Biden administration's approval in November 2023.
The project could produce up to 750 million barrels of oil and 287 million tons of carbon emissions plus other greenhouse gases over 30 years, according to an older government estimate, release the same amount of greenhouse gasses annually as half a million homes.[1] The BLM has predicted adverse effects on public health, the sociocultural system of Native American communities, arctic wildlife and the complex local arctic tundra.