Biden administration defends Trump-era Alaska oil decision

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — U.S. government attorneys are defending a decision made during the Trump administration to approve a major oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. Critics say the action flies in the face of President Joe Biden's pledges to address climate change.

U.S. Justice Department attorneys, in a filing Wednesday, wrote that opponents of the Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska were seeking to stop development by “cherry-picking” the records of federal agencies to claim environmental review law violations. The filing defends the reviews underpinning last fall's decision approving project plans.

Groups representing conservation and tribal interests sued to invalidate the Trump-era approval. An appeals court earlier this year halted certain construction activities, and parties in the case later agreed to keep in place construction activity limits until Dec. 1 while the underlying case continued.

Wednesday's filing came in the underlying case. The filing was lauded by members of Alaska's Republican congressional delegation, who have been critical of prior actions by the Biden administration affecting resource development, such as a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Members Thursday credited administration officials with hearing their arguments on the Willow project.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters the defense of the Willow project was “good news for Alaska. But I don’t think that folks should believe that we’ve been able to all of a sudden charm the administration and they're going to do whatever it is that we have on our to-do list. We have to work very, very very hard.”

ConocoPhillips is the project developer. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for...