The Willow Project is a 30-year-long oil drilling project that will lead to increasing global temperatures, causing global disasters to worsen and permanently altering human civilization. President Joe Biden approved of the Willow Project on March 13, despite his campaign’s promise in 2019 to protect the environment.
In June 2019, then-candidate Biden signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge.
The pledge Biden signed states, “I pledge not to take contributions over $200 from oil, gas, and coal industry executives, lobbyists, and PACs and instead prioritize the health of our families, climate, and democracy over fossil fuel industry profits.”
Resources provided to OpenSecrets.org show that Biden accepted $3,800 from Marna Whittington, foundation president of Whittington Seven Oaks Foundation and W&A Aviation Group, LLC. Whittington also serves on the board of directors of Phillips 66, a multinational energy company. This violates Biden’s campaign promises before even becoming president by accepting money from a corporate fossil fuel executive.
His campaign received $1,624,301,628 for the 2020 election. Sources state that 61% of the donations came from corporations and wealthy people and 38.4% came from donations under $200. While individual contributions and Political Action Campaigns have to report campaign contributions, super PACs don’t have to report their contributions.
When questioned in October 2019 on why he violated his promise of not taking money from the fossil fuel industry by an activist in South Carolina, Biden told the activist, “Stop listening to Bernie Sanders man,” then had the activist removed by security.
The Willow Project is a massive oil drilling project that will be built in alpine Alaska. This project is intended to help make the U.S. more energy independent, but ultimately will simply keep the U.S. population dependent on oil by diverting resources from renewable energy.
The project will be overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. Several plans are being discussed for the project, with the main differences being types of transportation used.
The construction for the project will include:
- 250 oil wells
- An artificial island to help with delivery of materials
- A gravel mine
- An airstrip and tower
- Several boat ramps in the nearby bay
- 575.4 miles of ice road
- 37 miles of gravel roads
- 315.9 miles of pipeline
- A 55-million gallon fresh water reservoir
During the project’s 30-year lifespan, it’s projected by the Bureau of Land Management to produce 160,000 barrels of oil daily, 586 million barrels over its lifetime. This will produce 287 million tons of carbon emissions and about 60 million tons in other greenhouse gasses. Annually it will produce as much pollution as half a million U.S. households.
Corruption in politics is nothing new, but when it threatens the world, it should be stopped. Accepting bribes from corporations and passing policies that make it easier for them to make money while the average person in the U.S. is finding it harder to survive is corruption, and it becomes more obvious when those subsidies are used for corporate stock buybacks that artificially increase stock value.
Before the Willow Project was approved, the global temperature was projected to increase 2 degrees celsius by 2050. Now that timeline has been accelerated. After 2C humanity will be drastically struggling to survive.
These are the effects of the increasing temperatures:
- Between a 1.5C – 2C increase, the ocean will become to acidic and the planet will lose 99% of its coral reefs
- Between 2C – 4C the oceans will rise 1-2 meters
- This would put most low lying areas of the world underwater
- Areas like Florida and many small islands will go underwater without preventative measures
- The mix of freshwater and saltwater will cause shifts in global ocean currents
- This will cause animal migration patterns to change
- Ocean current shifts will change the path of tropical storms to affect new areas
- Natural disasters will get stronger, more frequent and will hit areas rarely affected before
- At 4C, there will be mass drought
- At 4C, global crop failure will begin and lead to mass starvation
- Plants will have to evolve and adapt to new harsher environments to survive
- Lack of edible plants and coral will mean less oxygen and filtration of carbon dioxide
All of this sounds dystopian. With 39% of the population feeling we’re “living in the end times” as researched by the Pew Research Center and the Global Doomsday clock being set to 90 seconds before midnight on Jan. 24 this year, it seems to be getting more dystopian every day. Individual efforts to recycle won’t do enough to fix the issue. Major corporations could work toward solving the issue of pollution, instead they choose to focus on corrupting U.S. politics and generating short-term profits.
With a 37% approval rating, Biden’s re-election efforts may see improvement if he can realign himself with his campaign promises. Biden’s acceptance of fossil fuel bribes has led to him approving a project that will have disastrous effects on the environment. This is a small part of an overall problem that could lead to the deaths of millions. Public pressure and support from elected representatives can lead to a reversal of the policy and readjust the president’s focus toward protecting the environment.
