The United States formally approved a vast oil drilling project in Alaska, also known as the Willow
What is the Willow Project?
- Willow Project is a massive and decades long oil drilling venture on Alaska’s North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government of US.
- The area where the project is planned holds up to 600 million barrels of oil.
- That oil would take years to reach the market since the project has yet to be constructed.
Climate threats:
- The project would generate enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon pollution a year.
- The project could destroy habitat for native species and alter the migration patterns of animals including caribou.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB