Alaska Native leaders, US senators back major oil project

By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s U.S. senators and several Alaska Native leaders are urging the federal government to approve a major oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope. They cast the Willow project Tuesday as economically critical for Indigenous communities in the region and important for the nation’s energy security. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski warned the Biden administration against killing the project. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management earlier this month released an environmental review that listed as a preferred alternative an option calling for up to three drill sites initially. But the U.S. Interior Department issued a separate statement expressing concerns. A decision on the project could come by early March. Not everyone in the region supports the project.