By Dawnell Smith Agencies produce environmental impact statements to analyze and assess the impacts of a project proposal on people and the environment. An EIS is meant to help agencies make good decisions about proposals that impact land, water, animals, … Read More

By Dawnell Smith The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement last week for the massive ConocoPhillips Willow proposal for the western Arctic, with the shortest public comment period legally allowed. The project would spew … Read More

Western Arctic Alaska basks in endless sunlight these days, with caribou and birds migrating, blooms and tundra life emerging, and communities embracing the summertime warmth and nourishment. You can find industrialization here, too, and evidence of extraction and pollution that impacts the health of the region and planet.… Read More

The Biden administration announced in January 2022 that it intends to reverse a Trump-era plan that would have allowed for increased and extensive oil extraction within the largest unit of public land in the country. This is good news, and also it’s not enough. … Read More

August brought good news for the Arctic and planet when a federal court voided illegally issued permits for the ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil and gas project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. And September brought more good news when the Interior Department directed the Bureau of Land Management to reevaluate the destructive Trump-era 2020 management plan that would open up protected areas of the Reserve to oil and gas and further driving up carbon emissions.… Read More

I visited my family in the Lower 48 last month, and wow, this introvert sure has missed being around people. I still need alone time, of course—and I sure don’t miss the heat—but I do miss the kinship and connections. … Read More

We were in court calling out an illegal Trump-era approval of the massive ConocoPhillips’ Willow Master Development Plan. The Biden administration–against some of its state climate and public health goals–defended the approval in court, as did ConocoPhillips. … Read More

While the Biden administration promises climate action and clean energy, and Alaska’s political leaders spout the “drill baby drill” mantra of fossil fuel dinosaurs, Alaskans and people around the world face enduring threats to their health, ways of life, and homes at the hands of industrialization and climate chaos. Now there’s more good bad news for Alaska’s Arctic.… Read More

The Biden administration confirmed through legal briefs filed in court May 26 that it will undermine its own climate promises by continuing to defend the legally flawed Trump-era approval of ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow oil project. Those legal briefs were submitted … Read More