I’m a lifelong environmentalist: President Biden was right on Willow 

If you care about meeting climate change goals and protecting the planet our children want to live on, now is the time to support President Biden. This includes his decision to move forward with the Willow Energy Project in Alaska.As environmentalists, we cannot afford to live in a world ignorant of Russian and Chinese aggression, nor can we engage in neocolonialism that denies Alaska Natives the ability to develop their own resources. Most Presidents Passed The most ambitious climate change bill in US historyhave Growing Indigenous Voices of federal decision makingand most working class president Since FDR. We should now stand by him and recognize that anti-Indigenous, anti-blue-collar environmental activism is dangerous and self-defeating.

Consider the background to the development of Willow Oil. Alaska’s 229 federally recognized tribes and dozens of Alaska Native community and village businesses are powerful drivers of economic opportunity for Native Americans and the state at large. North Slope residents and allies across the state established boroughs and corresponding tax authorities decades ago. Since then, the North Slope Borough has invested oil revenues in transportation and public health programs. Rapid improvement in life expectancy. North Slope Municipality, Alaska Native Organizationand Alaska Native elected officials On behalf of North Slope, he has led efforts to obtain approval for Willow development.

The Willow Project will generate billions of dollars for Alaska to fund education and welfare services, but soon-to-be-affected North Slope residents will receive most of the profits. Billions of dollars in property tax revenues go to keep schools, clinics and infrastructure running, but renewable energy and other much-needed infrastructure improvements that face the realities of climate change directly. Well over $1 billion has been invested in community impact funds for continued expansion.

The North Slope experienced more extreme temperature changes than anywhere else in the United States. The average temperature in Alaska is Twice the rate of Lower 48the temperature on the northern slope increased by double the rate all of Alaska. Over the past 50 years, temperatures on the North Slope have increased tremendously. 12 degrees Fahrenheit since 1976, leading to ecological disruption and making it much more difficult for residents to harvest subsistence resources such as caribou, seals and whales.Look here Under 48 Environmentalists Alaska needs to be better understood: North Slope residents rely on skiffs powered by outboard motors, snow blowers, guns, and other equipment that can only be purchased with money. Residents therefore need jobs for money, and North Slope residents have village businesses and community businesses that provide such jobs, primarily through contracts for resource development projects like Willow. .

Climate change is a daily occurrence in Alaska, hitting First People and North Slope residents harder than anywhere else. We desperately need national and international policies to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas pollution. and Economic development is needed to enable Alaskans to survive, harvest self-sufficient resources, and sustain infrastructure in the midst of the climate crisis.

Is there a conflict with a president endorsing Willow while pursuing laudably ambitious climate goals? Neither Alaskans nor Americans control world oil demand or world oil prices. Projects like Willow have no net impact on global emissions. He said 80,000 barrels per day would have come from existing oil fields if they weren’t coming from Willow. Whether the existing oil fields are fracking wells in Texas or conventional oil from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, or many other producers. We have taken the right approach to supporting local energy production while moving as aggressively as possible to support both key steps in promoting green hydrogen. with liquid fossil fuels.

Most environmentalists want to support Indigenous rights, but many are unfamiliar with Alaska’s tribal governments, corporations, or history. I don’t understand what you mean. I hope these individuals continue to learn about our condition and the complex realities of our people and institutions. Reflexive and assertive opposition to base energy production must be understood to be recklessly naive and self-deprecating.

I’ve been an environmental activist my whole life and worry no more about the future my two daughters live in. For them, I hope that environmental groups around the world will do an economic and geopolitical fact-finding and support a president who is doing everything in his power to keep our country and the planet intact. .

Zach Fields (D-Anchorage) is a member of the Alaska House of Representatives.