Alaska Judge Sides With ConocoPhillips on New $7.5 Billion Oil Project

  • $7.5 billion project could yield 600 million barrels of crude
  • Environmentalists say project imperils caribou and the climate

A part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System runs past Alaska Range mountains near Delta Junction, Alaska.

Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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A federal judge upheld the Biden administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ 600-million-barrel Willow oil development in Alaska, a blow to environmentalists who argued it would imperil wildlife and exacerbate climate change.

The ruling by Alaska-based US District Judge Sharon Gleason means ConocoPhillips can continue developing the $7.5 billion project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that promises to eventually yield some 180,000 barrels of oil per day.