{"id":1322,"date":"2023-04-28T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/?post_type=studenica_kutak&p=1322"},"modified":"2026-09-28T06:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T06:28:08","slug":"projekat-willow-njegov-uticaj-na-klimatske-promene-i-sta-je-resenje3461275","status":"publish","type":"studenica_kutak","link":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/studentski-kutak\/projekat-willow-njegov-uticaj-na-klimatske-promene-i-sta-je-resenje3461275\/","title":{"rendered":"Project "Willow" - its impact on climate change and what is the solution?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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1. Introduction
\n<\/span><\/strong>One of the main features of the new millennium are topics related to the environment and climate change. Although even today there are theories that climate change does not exist and that the situation should not be taken seriously, at the end of the last century the international community finally began to attach importance to this phenomenon, realizing the urgency and necessity for changes in this field. However, even after several decades of regulations and international agreements, the great powers continue to abuse their position by violating agreements and acts that they voluntarily acceded to, creating catastrophic consequences for climate change. One of the potential abuses is the project called "Willow".<\/span><\/span>2. What is the Willow Project?<\/span>
\nThe "Willow" project is a massive, decades-long project of the ConocoPhillips company based on the extraction of oil on the North Slope of Alaska, which consists of years of exploration and drilling for oil deposits in this territory. Willow was proposed by ConocoPhillips and initially approved by the Trump administration in 2020, originally with a capacity of five drilling sites, but later reduced to three.
\nThe area where the project is planned contains up to 600 million barrels of oil. Such oil would only be on the market for a few years because the project is still under construction, but now that the Biden administration has given the green light to this project, there is nothing stopping construction from starting. However, it is still unclear when exactly this will happen, largely due to the legal challenges facing the project.
\nEarthjustice, an environmental rights organization, is expected to file an objection against the project soon and will likely seek an injunction and attempt to block the project from continuing.<\/p>\n

3. Negative impact of the project on climate change<\/span>
\nIt is estimated that this project will emit 239 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the next few decades, which is equivalent to the emissions of 64 US coal-fired power plants. Therefore, there is a good reason why environmental organizations have called this project a "carbon bomb".
\nContrary to that, the President of the United States has committed to a plan to halve US greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2005, with the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. It is obvious that approving this project would seriously jeopardize the mentioned plan.
\nActivists also claim that the Willow project is seriously harming the health of the Arctic and the planet, and they have received support from the local community and law firms that have already filed lawsuits regarding the case. One of their arguments is the negative climate impact on endangered animal species, including polar bears that live in the region where the project would be built, also stating that the project violates several federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).<\/p>\n

4. Can the "Willow" project have positive effects?\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhile certain actors focus on the negative aspects of this project, others see it as a great opportunity. Senators of the US Congress declare that they can already feel a brighter future for Alaska as a result of this project. These considerations stem mainly from the fact that the Willow project will provide thousands of new jobs, as well as generate billions of dollars in new revenue, improving the quality of life on the North Slope and across the state.
\nTo understand this point of view, one must know that Alaska's economy is heavily dependent on the oil industry. Almost 85% of the state budget comes from oil revenues. For this reason, one can potentially understand the importance of this project especially for the state of Alaska, which currently produces less than a quarter of the oil it produced in the 1980s.
\nAlso, it's important to add that even if the president's administration wanted to act in stopping the project, their hands are potentially tied due to existing and valid leases with ConocoPhillip. It was found that the courts would not legally allow them to completely reject or drastically reduce the project. If they go that route, they could face hefty fines in a lawsuit against ConocoPhillips.<\/p>\n

5. Do we have a solution?<\/span>
\nEnvironmental organizations and ConocoPhillips are racing against time. The construction of this project can only be done during the winter season as it needs icy roads to build the rest of the oil project infrastructure.
\nIf environmental organizations obtain an injunction before the end of the season, it could stop or delay the project for at least a year. Also, because the project needs to be fully constructed before oil can be produced, it could take years for the produced oil to finally reach the market.
\nHow can you help? Immediately after the "Willow" project became public, activists created a "Say no to the Willow project" petition on the "change.org" website. This petition currently has more than 5 million signatures. If you have been convinced by this article that the "Willow" project can be fatal for the environment and the future of our planet, you can sign the mentioned petition at this link: https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/joseph-r-biden-biden-administration-and-conocophillips-say-no-to-the-willow-project<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Projekat \u201eWillow\u201c \u2013 njegov uticaj na klimatske promene i \u0161ta je re\u0161enje? 4\/28\/2023 \u00a0 1. UvodJedna od glavnih odlika novog milenijuma su teme vezane za \u017eivotnu sredinu i klimatske promene. Iako i\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1515,"template":"","categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1322","studenica_kutak","type-studenica_kutak","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-studentski-kutak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studenica_kutak\/1322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studenica_kutak"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/studenica_kutak"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studenica_kutak\/1322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studenica_kutak\/1322\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr.studenica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}