Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is backing President Joe Biden’s decision to approve an Alaska oil field development project amid criticism from within Democratic Party ranks.
After lengthy deliberations and arguments for and against the Alaskan oil drilling proposal, known as the Willow Project, Biden decided on Monday to approve a scaled-down version of the Willow Project rather than cancel it outright. The scaled-down project allows for three of the original five proposed drilling pads to proceed, and requires Conoco Phillips to relinquish 68,000 acres of land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) for the project.
