Biden administration backs Alaska oil drilling project approved under Trump

Alaska oil drilling project

US President Joe Biden's administration defended on Wednesday a proposed ConocoPhillips oil development in Alaska, backing the drilling project which was approved under the administration of former President Donald Trump. ‘A Wednesday filing by the US Department of Justice continues to defend a 2020 Record of Decision for the Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPR-A)’ a spokesman of the US Interior Department said in an email. In February, an appeals court blocked construction of ConocoPhillips' $2 billion-plus Willow crude oil project in Alaska. Wednesday's development comes even as Interior Secretary Deb Haaland had opposed the project last year when she was a member of Congress. The Trump administration approved the Willow development plan in October. Permits to mine for gravel and build roads were issued on the morning of Jan. 20, just before Biden was sworn in as the nation's 46th president.