Why Did the Biden Administration Approve the Willow Project? https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-did-the-biden-administration-approve-the-willow-project March 13, 2023 An immense new oil project—Willow is expected to include more than two hundred wells—is obviously at odds with the goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. As Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, put it back in 2021, “If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now—from this year.” So why did the Administration approve it?
Politics is an obvious answer. The approval, according to Politico, is part of a strategy to create a “ ‘Biden-moves-to-the-center’ narrative” heading into next year’s Presidential election.