Judge rejects challenges to biggest Alaska oil project in decades

A federal judge has upheld the Biden administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope, a decision that environmental groups swiftly vowed to fight.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejected requests by a grassroots Iñupiat group and environmentalists to vacate the project approval. She dismissed their claims against Willow, which is in the federally designated National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The administration’s approval of Willow in March drew the ire of environmentalists who accused the president of backpedaling on his pledge to co...