(PartiallyPolitics.com) – A group of prominent environmental organizations had banded together in filing a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration on Wednesday. The lawsuit challenges Biden’s administration to proceed with approving the massive oil drilling project in Alaska.
The coalition stated that President Biden’s greenlighting of the Willow Project, which is going to be the biggest single oil drilling project in the country and is expected to produce more than 600 million barrels of crude oil over 30 years, went against the Biden administration’s climate agenda which includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Department of Interior (DOI) has finalized its approval for three out of the five drilling sites originally proposed under this process. Erik Grafe, the deputy managing attorney at the Alaska regional office for Earthjustice stated that there was no doubt that the administration was legally in a position to block the project but instead chose not to do it. He added that instead, they decided to approve the project without properly taking into account what the impact of the project would be on the climate.
He added that the climate crisis was one of the greatest issues that needed to be handled, and the lawsuit will help ensure that the Biden administration is following the law and following through on the vows they had made to future generations.
Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace USA, Defenders of Wildlife, and Friends of the Earth. Several federal agencies and officials, including DOI Secretary Deb Haaland, of which were listed as defendants.
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