The Interior Department on Monday approved the operation of a massive oil and gas facility on Alaska’s North Slope, a ConocoPhillips project called Willow supported by the state’s congressional delegation but opposed by environmental groups.
President Joe Biden will move to protect about 2.8 million acres in the Arctic Ocean from oil and gas extraction, and Interior will limit drilling in federal land in Alaska through a separate rule, the department said in a statement announcing the Willow approval.
In its decision, Interior approved three of the five drill site pads that ConocoPhillips originally sought.
