Press Releases

WASHNGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) issued a Record of Decision regarding the proposed Willow Master Development Plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The Department is substantially reducing the size of the project by denying two of the five drill sites proposed by ConocoPhillips, which is seeking to develop oil and gas leases it acquired beginning in the late 1990s. The company will also relinquish rights to approximately 68,000 acres of its existing leases in the NPR-A, including approximately 60,000 acres in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.

“We’re pleased to see the Willow Project finally move forward after years of bureaucratic hurdles, costly environmental reviews, and radical activists obstructing the voices of Alaskans,” said Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04). “However, it is incredibly disappointing to see the scope of the largest and most environmentally friendly oil project in America significantly reduced even as the Biden Administration continues to source energy and critical minerals from dirty foreign sources. The fact this announcement is accompanied by additional, indefinite resource development prohibitions on Alaska lands and waters is further evidence the Biden Administration’s senseless lock-up of our nation’s resources is far from over.”

“Today, the people of Alaska were heard,” said Western Caucus Member Mary Sattler Peltola (AK-AL). “After years of consistent, determined advocacy for this project, from people all across the state and from every walk of life, the Willow Project is finally moving forward. I would like to thank the President and his administration for listening to the voices of Alaskans when it mattered most. I would also like to thank Senators Murkowski and Sullivan, and most importantly, our entire movement of Alaska Natives, laborers, state legislators, and everyday Alaskans who never gave up on this goal. Now, it’s on us here in Alaska to make sure that we make the best of this opportunity—that we use the revenues and jobs and economic opportunity from this project to make investments in the future of Alaska. We need to build up our schools, our housing stock, our rural Internet and electric grids, and more, in order to make this a truly 21st-century economy. We can make Alaska a national and global example of what an energy bridge to the future truly looks like, and I am looking forward to meeting this challenge.” 

“The Willow project will provide essential jobs and revenue for Alaska, and increase American energy security. However, in a now-familiar pattern, the Biden administration is attempting to have their cake and eat it too,” said House Committee on Natural Resources Chair and Western Caucus Vice Chair Bruce Westerman (AR-04). “At the same time the administration approved the Willow project, they quietly announced massive restrictions on future leases in the North Slope and the Arctic Ocean. Lessening our dependence on foreign oil and lowering energy costs for American families should be a top priority, yet President Biden continues to attack American energy production and hardworking citizens. This deal also comes on the same weekend China negotiated a peace deal with Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the day the Saudi oil company, Aramco, claimed the highest ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company of $161 billion. Global fossil fuel consumption continues to grow from sources that are much dirtier than American-made energy. These jobs and profits could be going to hardworking Americans and their communities while also making the environment cleaner.

The Record of Decision can be viewed here.