The Biden administration released a long-awaited study Feb. 1 that recommends allowing an $8 billion oil development on Alaska’s North Slope that supporters say could boost U.S. energy security but that climate activists decry as a “carbon bomb.”

The move — while not final — drew immediate anger from environmentalists who saw it as a betrayal of the president’s pledges to reduce carbon emissions and promote clean energy sources.

ConocoPhillips had proposed five drilling sites as part of its Willow project. The approach listed as the preferred alternative by the U.S. Bureau of La...