XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sci.geo.petroleum   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: joe.the.liar@nytimes.com   
      
   In article    
   Molly Bolt  wrote:   
   >   
   > He's probably lying just to milk some investor money.   
   > He does that, lies.  A lot.   
   >   
      
   President Joe Biden’s allies in the climate movement are bracing   
   for their biggest setback from his administration as he moves   
   closer to approving an Alaskan oil project that would pump as   
   much carbon into the atmosphere as 60 coal-burning power plants.   
      
   The administration is expected to approve ConocoPhillips’ plans   
   to build its proposed Willow project on federal land in the   
   Arctic tundra, according to three people at environmental groups   
   who have talked to the White House and Interior Department in   
   recent days about it. But there is no indication yet that Biden   
   himself has signed off on it, and the administration appears to   
   be still trying to decide how big the project would be, these   
   people said.   
      
   The White House insisted Friday and Saturday that the   
   administration has made “no final decisions” about the project.   
   But administration officials have touted the importance of oil   
   production in recent months, and people outside the   
   administration said they had been expecting the approval to be   
   announced this past Friday.   
      
   Biden pledged to halt new oil and gas development on federal   
   land during his 2020 campaign, and he and Democrats in Congress   
   passed landmark climate legislation last summer aimed at weaning   
   huge swaths of the economy off of fossil fuels. But the surge in   
   oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the   
   administration into an awkward embrace of the oil industry, as   
   Biden countered Republican accusations that his policies were to   
   blame for the skyrocketing price at the gas pump that was   
   stoking inflation.   
      
   Approving Willow would be just the latest shift by Biden toward   
   the political center as he moves toward a potential reelection   
   bid. He similarly dismayed liberals last week by saying he would   
   not veto a GOP-led repeal of changes to D.C.’s criminal code.   
      
   The White House defended Biden’s environmental record Saturday   
   in comments to POLITICO, saying Biden’s policies have made the   
   U.S. “a magnet for clean energy manufacturing and jobs” with   
   policies that help the U.S. come closer to meeting climate   
   goals. A White House official said that using oil and gas is   
   still consistent with Biden’s near- and long-term emissions   
   targets, which the official said the U.S. is on track to meet.   
      
   “This approach has not changed — nor will it. Our climate goals   
   are cutting emissions in half by 2030 and reaching net-zero by   
   2050 — not 2023,” the official said. “That has always meant that   
   oil will continue to be a part of the energy mix in the short-   
   term while we shore up domestic clean energy production for the   
   long-term.”   
      
   Environmental groups acknowledged Saturday that they were   
   largely in the dark about the White House’s plans, but said they   
   believed that the current discussions inside the administration   
   were largely over whether to limit the number of drilling sites   
   at the Willow project to two rather than three. Conoco had   
   proposed building five well pads.   
      
   “It sounds like different groups in the White House are still   
   discussing” the potential size of the project, said one   
   environmental advocate who had been in contact with the   
   administration late Friday.   
      
   “They told us they had nothing to offer” on the state of project   
   deliberations, added the person, who was granted anonymity to   
   describe internal White House deliberations.   
      
   But if the reports of the approval are true, Biden’s shift to   
   the center on oil would threaten to demoralize the climate   
   activists he needs to support him in 2024, said Jamal Raad, co-   
   founder and senior adviser of the group Evergreen Action.   
      
   “It will be harder for us and climate activists to rally around   
   this president come next year,” Raad said, explaining the action   
   would detract from his many accomplishments, such as the $370   
   billion in climate and clean energy incentives in the Inflation   
   Reduction Act, while putting the onus on Biden to issue tougher   
   environmental rules on cars and power plants.   
      
   Conoco declined to comment until it hears a decision directly   
   from the administration.   
      
   Conoco Chief Executive Ryan Lance last week urged the   
      
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