[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 22 (Thursday, February 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S222-S224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Willow Project

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, yesterday, as some of my colleagues may 
know, the Federal Government issued the final Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement on what is called the Willow Project in 
Alaska. This is a very large oil and gas development in my State. It 
has been in permitting for about 20 years--20 years. That is a whole 
other topic. We don't need 20 years to do anything in terms of 
permitting.
  But I want to first begin by thanking several of my Senate 
colleagues, particularly a number of my Democratic Senate colleagues 
who have been reaching out to the Biden administration and saying: Hey, 
you guys need to move this Willow Project forward, for reasons I am 
going to talk about.
  By the way, I am going to talk about this a lot for the next 30 days 
here on the floor. It is so important to my State, my constituents, but 
to America. But I want to begin by thanking so many of my Senate 
colleagues--a big number of them. I am not sure they all want to be 
recognized. So I won't recognize any of those. Senator Manchin put a 
statement out on this yesterday. But a number of them--especially my 
Democratic colleague friends--reached out over the last several weeks 
of the Biden administration saying: Hey, it is time; it is time. This 
is good for Alaska, good for America, good for our environment.
  So I want to talk a little bit about this. As I mentioned, I will be 
down here talking a lot about this because it is so darned important to 
Alaska and, I would argue, America.
  This project, as I mentioned, has been under some kind of regulatory 
review since ConocoPhillips got the leases from the Federal Government 
during the Clinton administration, the late 1990s. Again, something 
that people always forget: This is a lease from the Federal Government 
to the private sector. They paid hundreds of millions of dollars for 
these leases. We are in a contract with the Feds saying we are going to 
explore and then develop.
  It is also in what is called the National Petroleum Reserve of 
Alaska, NPRA. It is not a controversial area, unlike ANWR--we recognize 
that--or some of the offshore developments. This is the National 
Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. This was set aside by Congress, this body, 
I think almost 70 years ago. It used to be called the Naval Petroleum 
Reserve of Alaska. For what? For developing identifying oil and gas, 
which our country needs--still needs. It is going to need it for 
decades to come.
  So the review process has been going on for years. Every 
environmental review, this project advances with flying colors. I will 
get to that. The Trump administration finished the permitting with a 
record of decision in 2020. They approved five drilling pads. The Biden 
administration, after some court delays--and to be honest, after delays 
from the Biden administration--came back, finally, with a supplemental 
final EIS and said: We are going to go from five pads down to three.
  All right. That is not what I would have preferred. But these are the 
career people. And they think that this can be developed with this new 
plan. We would agree. But that is a bare minimum. There were some 
indications yesterday that the administration is still looking at maybe 
less. We have 30 more days to review this. And they are looking at 
maybe less pads.
  Well, we have all stated--the private sector companies stated: Hey, 
anything less than this, you are essentially killing it, because you 
can't make this an economically viable project.
  So let me just give a little bit of a background on this because it 
is so important, and then I want to make a few points that relate to 
the voices that need to be heard as it relates to the Willow project.
  We could start building this tomorrow. This is clearly a shovel-ready 
project. We only build, in Alaska, projects like this in the winter 
because we have such high environmental standards, the highest in the 
world. We build ice roads, ice paths so we don't disrupt the tundra, 
and we only, generally, build from January to April. The Conoco team is 
ready. Estimates are 2,500 jobs--2,500 jobs. Could we use that in 
America? Could we use that in Alaska? Darn right we could.
  By the way, the estimate is 75 percent of those jobs will be union 
jobs, building trade jobs. That is why the laborers--pretty much every 
major union in the country--has viewed this as one of their top 
priorities, not just for Alaska, for America.
  Revenues are about $17 billion for Federal, State, and local 
governments--$17 billion. America, Alaska, the North Slope Borough 
could all use that.
  Racial equity, racial justice. I come down here and speak a lot about 
why resource development in Alaska is so important because it mostly 
happens in the rural communities in my State where people, primarily 
indigenous people, don't have the things that the

[[Page S223]]

average American takes for granted, like running water, like flushed 
toilets, like gymnasiums, like health clinics, let alone hospitals. So 
Alaska Natives in Alaska, over the last 25 years, have had an explosion 
in life expectancy. It increased by almost 13 years, more than any 
other part of America by far. They are living longer. That is a big 
indicator of policy success. Are your constituents living longer? My 
constituents are living a lot longer. Why? Because of projects like 
this. You get jobs; you get revenues; and you start to get things that 
the average American thinks that every American citizen has. In a lot 
of our rural communities in Alaska, we don't.
  When you want to talk about racial equity and racial justice, this 
should be No. 1--No. 1. I am going to get to it. The Native communities 
in my State are 100 percent behind this project.
  For that reason, let me talk about another benefit, the environment. 
This will be the lowest greenhouse gas-emitting project of an energy 
project of this size, of any project like this in the world--in the 
world. If we need oil and gas, which the Biden administration's Energy 
Information Agency says we will need for decades to come and the 
International Energy Agency in Paris says we are going to need oil and 
gas for decades to come, wouldn't you want to produce it in the place 
with the highest environmental standards? The answer is yes. Wouldn't 
you want to produce it with those 2,500 American jobs--good jobs--that 
pay a real high wage? The answer is yes. Wouldn't you want to do it in 
a way that really promotes environmental justice and racial equity by 
helping indigenous people in their communities with jobs, with 
revenues, with services that most people take for granted? The answer 
is yes.
  This project, at peak production, will be about 200,000 barrels a 
day. That is a lot of oil, but you are going to be able to do it 
without barely any new infrastructure--as I mentioned, five pads or 
three pads--and it is right next to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline that is 
two-thirds empty. You plug it in there, and it flows down to America.
  You think we need energy? We need energy. One thing I have said to 
the Biden administration, which makes no sense at all, is why would the 
President go to Saudi Arabia on bended knee asking for more oil? Why 
would this administration go to Venezuela--Maduro, a terrorist--and 
lift sanctions on Venezuela, which has some of the most dirty, 
polluting energy projects anywhere in the world, so we can import more 
oil into America from Venezuela and from Saudi Arabia, when we can get 
it from Alaska with our workers, our high environmental standards--
highest in the world--our Native people? These are all the reasons why 
this makes sense.
  These are the reasons why--again, thank you to my colleagues, so many 
of my Democratic colleagues. All my Republican colleagues are, of 
course, supportive, but they don't have the sway with the Biden 
administration. This is why everybody here--with the exception of a 
few, and I will just name one because I can't help but name him--are 
for this. In terms of energy security--and I know the Presiding Officer 
follows this--which countries fear American energy dominance more than 
anything? Read the intel. It is Putin in Russia. They are worried about 
projects like this. It is Xi Jinping in China. They are scared to death 
of American energy dominance. And it is the people in the Middle East. 
I was just there on a codel with six Republican and Democratic 
Senators--in the Middle East. The Presiding Officer was going to come 
with us. We really missed him. He couldn't make it. Our National 
Security Advisor was there. We had breakfast with him. He knows all 
about this project, by the way. The Biden administration's national 
security teams--Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, National 
Security Advisor--they think this is a no-brainer.
  Of course, we need more energy. Imagine what we can do if you are 
going into a meeting with the, say, Saudis or Emirates saying: By the 
way, we just approved a project that will be 200,000 barrels a day for 
America with the highest standards in the world. That is power. That is 
still power. We need all the above. I want all kinds of energy--
renewables, wind, solar--but we are still going to need oil and gas. If 
we do, let's get it from us, not our enemies.
  This announcement came--like I said, three pads is not great, but we 
can work with it. BLM put out a pretty good statement. The Department 
of the Interior put out a statement. They didn't quote anybody, which 
was very strange. It was a headless Department of the Interior 
statement that kind of indicated maybe they are going to kill this 
project in 30 days. That is very troubling.
  Our delegation has asked for a meeting with the President to finally 
pitch him on this. I pitched President Biden on this before. At the 
time, he was very supportive so it will be hard to walk it back.
  Here is my issue. I just want to make a couple of final points. The 
media coverage on this--to our friends in the media, I am going to 
ask--look, I interview with the media all the time. I talk with anybody 
who has issues, but it was remarkable. Go read the articles yesterday 
on the Willow project. They quote every far-left radical environmental 
group in America, none of whom, by the way, live in Alaska. The list is 
very long. They are calling this a horrible project. It is the highest 
standards in the world, there is no doubt about it. They are just 
saying apoplectic things about this project.
  So yesterday's press quoted all these voices who are all negative. By 
the way, they don't want to build anything. They don't want to have one 
additional energy project in America. They don't; ask them. You don't 
want energy from Alaska? You would rather get it from Venezuela, 18 
times more polluting than an American project? When you ask them that 
question--trust me, I have asked that question a lot--they never have 
an answer. They don't know what to say. They just say: We hate all oil 
and gas.
  Guess what. We need it. Let's do it here.
  Here is my point. This is a list of just some groups that need to be 
heard. Next time my colleagues--my friends in the media write a story--
go ask all the unions. Laborers' International, the biggest 
construction union in America, LIUNA, led by a great American, Terry 
O'Sullivan, put another statement out. He has been writing letters once 
a month. This is one of our biggest projects for the laborers, the 
building trades, all the unions that build stuff--a giant coalition. 
Sean McGarvey, another great American is head of the building trades. 
They put out a huge statement. They have been putting out statements on 
Willow for years. Did any of our great media in America quote the 
unions yesterday? No. They quote the Center for Biological Diversity 
and all these other far lefties, but the men and women who build stuff 
weren't quoted at all. This is one of their biggest priorities in 
America right now, 100 percent.
  The group that they really did not quote at all--and this is 
troubling to me--is all the Alaska Native leaders and Alaska Native 
Tribes and Alaska Native elected leaders in this part of Alaska. There 
are dozens of them. I was down here and gave a speech a few months ago 
with all the letters from all these different groups. You know what 
they do? They love to pick the one person in Alaska who is against them 
and quote that person.
  My ask of the media is next time you write about Willow and the Biden 
administration, when you are looking for the people who really know how 
this matters to their State, quote some of these incredible groups--the 
ANCSA Regional organization, the city of Wainwright, the North Slope 
Borough, the Native village of Barrow, the Voice of the Arctic, which 
is a grouping of different Native groups on the Arctic. Here is what 
they said. Here are a few. This is from the Inupiat leaders of the 
Alaska's North Slope:

       The Administration cannot proclaim to support meaningful 
     tribal consultation and environmental justice while at the 
     same time killing a critical resource that supports . . . the 
     Inupiat communities of the North Slope region.

  The Native Alaskans want this. This is the Alaska Federation of 
Natives. That is the biggest Native group organization that represents 
all Natives in Alaska: Southeast, North Slope, Interior. They are huge 
supporters of this--every group.
  My friends in the media, go ask them, quote them. Don't go to 
Greenpeace out of New York City or

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San Francisco. Quote the Alaska Native people who live there.
  I will make two final points. As you can tell, this is very important 
to me. You know we have a couple of Members of Congress--I forget this 
one guy's name from Arizona--Grijalva, I think. He was saying the 
Alaskan people don't want it; Alaska Natives don't want it. He said 
that yesterday. He has a new member on his committee, Mary Peltola, 
Congresswoman from Alaska, who is an Alaska Native. Maybe you should 
ask Mary what she thinks about this project instead of spouting off on 
an issue.
  Unfortunately, I have one colleague here--I am not going to get into 
it. He knows who he is. He makes it his life's work to go after Alaska, 
including this one. I will give a speech later on the hypocrisy of that 
action.
  I want to just quote the voice of the Arctic Inupiat, a group of 
Native leaders. Here, they sum up what happened yesterday, what the 
media kind of highlighted while, literally, canceling the voice of the 
people in Alaska. Here is what they say:

       Outside activist groups opposing Willow have drowned out 
     local perspectives--

  That is what happened in the press reports yesterday.

     and are actively working to supersede the views of the Alaska 
     Native people. This is not environmental justice or any other 
     kind of justice.

  When you put that back to a Biden administration official and say: 
You guys care about environmental justice, racial justice, racial 
equity that you talk about all the time, what about my constituents? 
Every time I have asked that question of a Biden administration 
official, they look at me blank: Hmm, I don't know how to answer that.
  The indigenous people of my State want this project, undeniably. Our 
friends in the media won't write that story.

       It is a direct attack on Alaska Native self-determination.

  This is the voice of the Arctic Inupiat. Like I said, I am going to 
be coming down here talking about this because it is really important 
for my State and really important for America.
  A final point, too. I frequently make the argument--some of my 
Democratic colleagues don't like it--you know, on these kinds of 
issues, the Democratic Party that used to be for the working men and 
working women of America, the people who build things, kind of 
migrated, kind of left the working men and women out. If the far-left 
environmental groups want something, they almost always go with them, 
not the working men and women of America.
  This will be a test for the administration. You say you want to 
support the working men and women and the Indigenous people in my 
State? This is an easy answer--easy answer. Look at the supporters.
  So I hope we can get there. Thirty days is going to be a battle, but 
I hope our friends in the media, when they are writing about this in 
the next few weeks, don't cancel the voices of Alaskans, don't cancel 
the voices of the Alaskan Native people, the Indigenous people. Hear 
from them. I know you have a bias against a project like this, but 
listen to the people I represent. They are great people, and they are 
very clear that they are supporting the Willow project, as am I, as is 
Senator Murkowski, as are, by the way, a lot of my colleagues in a 
bipartisan way. I thank them again. This is going to be really 
important. And it doesn't just matter to Alaska; it matters to America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The President pro tempore of the United States 
Senate.