03.08.23

ICYMI: At CERAWeek, Sullivan Says Willow Project Aligns with Biden’s Priorities

WASHINGTON—At CERAWeek 2023 on Monday in Houston, Texas, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) participated in a discussion on the Willow Project and energy security with S&P Global Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin. During the discussion, Senator Sullivan emphasized that he and the rest of the Alaska congressional delegation urged President Biden to approve the Willow Project in a meeting last week in the Oval Office. Sullivan argued that the Alaska oil project aligns with President Biden’s priorities on climate, racial equity, union workers, and national security.

"We said to the president, Mr. President, this is exactly the kind of energy project that Joe Biden, President Biden, should approve because it meets so many of the things that you say your administration is for,” Senator Sullivan said. “Racial justice, [union] workers, national security, highest environmental standards, this should be the project that Joe Biden, President Biden should want to approve. And I certainly hope they do it for the benefit of America and Alaska.”

CERAWeek is the world’s leading energy conference. The conference takes place annually in Houston with 7,500 delegates attending in 2023.

Fox News Digital also covered the Senator’s remarks. Excerpts from their story can be found below. To read the full story, click here.

President Biden, environmental groups bringing 'second wave of colonialism' to Alaska, Sen. Sullivan says
Fox News
March 7, 2023
By Kyle Morris

Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan said Monday that Alaskan natives feel President Biden's administration, along with environmental groups looking to stifle an arctic oil project, are bringing a "second wave of colonialism" to the Last Frontier.

Sullivan's comments from the S&P Global's 2023 CERAWeek energy conference in Houston came as he urged President Biden's administration to approve the Willow Project, an Alaskan arctic oil project that would – amid pushback from environmental groups – provide the U.S. with domestic access to millions of barrels of oil.

Describing a meeting he had with President Biden, along with Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Alaska Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, Sullivan said, "We said to the president, ‘This is exactly the kind of energy project that Joe Biden, President Biden, should approve because it meets so many of the things you say your administration is for.’"

"The highest environmental standards in the world… the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of any major project," Sullivan added of efforts favored by the Biden administration. "Negligible emissions is what they say in the EIS, and they also do what is called a market analysis substitution. So if you don't do Willow, we're gonna get energy from places like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, the emissions are much higher. Not doing Willow pumps more CO2 into the atmosphere."

Sullivan said the project has received "very strong support" from the region's indigenous people, but the Biden administration has ignored those comments.

"What they're starting to say is, these lower 48 environmental groups who are now doing this big campaign against Willow are undertaking, really, the second wave of colonialism," he said. "This is from our native leaders. Eco-colonialism, where they're coming up and telling Alaskan natives: ‘Here’s how you should live your life.' It's ridiculous."

. . .

"As we said in this meeting, if they deny this project, their rhetoric on racial equity and environmental justice is very empty," Sullivan said. "The president says he's a big supporter of the unions, this project would create 2,500 jobs, 75% of which are union jobs. Every major union in America has come out strongly in support of this."

 

Sullivan said Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has revealed the "need for energy security" in America and that he pressed Biden on the issue of the U.S. purchasing oil from other countries, like Venezuela, when it has its own supply domestically.

 

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