What is the Willow project

In the village of Nuiqsut on Alaska's North Slope, hunting and fishing are how people get food.

But [experts told Grist](https://grist.org/energy/willow-project-economic-benefits-alaska-energy-independence/) last week that the project could lose money for Alaska’s state government in the short term. [decision](https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/109410/200258032/20075029/250081211/2023%20Willow%20MDP%20Record%20of%20Decision.pdf) this week, the Bureau of Land Management acknowledged that “cumulative effects” of current and future oil development may “significantly” restrict opportunities to harvest food by lowering the number of caribou in popular hunting areas and limiting access for hunters. [letter](https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2.23.2023%20Kuukpik%20Corp%20Willow%20Comment.pdf) to Halaand in February. [moved to build](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-14/conocophillips-starts-road-construction-at-willow-oil-project-in-alaska?leadSource=uverify%20wall) roads along the ice to the project, Alaska’s biggest in decades. About 95 percent of the North Slope Borough’s [property tax revenue](https://www.north-slope.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/FY22-NSB-ACFR-Issued.pdf) — some $400 million — comes from the oil and gas industry, including ConocoPhillips. The company produced 48 million barrels of oil on the North Slope last year, according to state data, and earned [more than $2 billion](https://static.conocophillips.com/files/resources/4q22-supplemental-information.pdf) from its Alaska operations. A [major natural gas leak](https://grist.org/energy/permafrost-thaw-conocophillips-willow-project-alpine-leak/) occurred last year at a ConocoPhillips pad just eight miles from the town, prompting the company to evacuate 300 employees. [estimate](https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/109410/200258032/20075029/250081211/2023%20Willow%20MDP%20Record%20of%20Decision.pdf) by the federal government. There’s a “ [majority consensus](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/03/13/alaska-oil-drilling-biden-environment-climate/958feb80-c1b3-11ed-82a7-6a87555c1878_story.html)” in favor of Willow among the North Slope residents, according to Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a regional advocacy group. [cheered](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R4LTV_VUKZ8t5nFCFGijgAq9tjMxP1OE/view?usp=sharing) the Biden administration’s move. But Kunaknana and elected officials at the City of Nuiqsut and the Native Village of Nuiqsut are worried about what the Willow development means for their future. energy independence, Willow has sparked a national controversy over the [tension](https://grist.org/energy/biden-approves-willow-oil-project-alaska/) between the country’s domestic oil supply and the Biden administration’s climate policy.