Month: March 2023

The Biden administration gave the green light to ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil drilling project on the North Slope of Alaska on Monday, while moving to reduce the overall footprint of the project. According to the Interior Department, the multibillion dollar project will be located inside the National Petroleum Reserve, about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and could produce nearly 600 million barrels of crude oil over the next 30 year. The White House denied two of five drill sites and called on Conoco Phillips — Alaska’s largest crude oil producer — to give up rights to 68,000 acres worth of leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that it acquired in the 1990s.

The Department of the Interior noted in announcing the approval that it reduced the scope of the plan by denying two of the five drill sites proposed by ConocoPhillips. The department estimated that the project could produce nearly a quarter of a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The oil industry and Alaskan lawmakers had urged the president to approve the project for its energy production potential and its ability to create jobs. Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer, in a news release that “This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a statement that she could almost “feel Alaska’s future brightening” after the administration’s announcement. ConocoPhillips estimated that the project would create up to 2,500 construction jobs and 300 long-term jobs.

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On Monday, President Biden assured Americans that the U.S. banking system remained strong , and that swift action to protect deposits of two closed banks should head off fears of additional failures of financial institutions. Biden ‘s White House briefing came after many feared that the closures of California’s Silicon Valley Bank (which handled the funds of many tech startups) and New York Signature Bank could lead to a wave of other bank collapses.

Biden said all customers can “rest assured” that they will be able to access their funds and protected, adding that the move will allow companies to make payroll, pay bills and stay open for business. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation normally insures deposits of up to $250,000 but the administration’s action will give that safety net to all depositors.  Said Biden: “Because of the actions of that, because of the action our regulators have already taken, every American should feel confident that their deposits will be there if and when they need them.” The president also said that fees from the deposit assurances will come from fees paid by the banking industry into the federal insurance fund and not taxpayers, and that those running failed banks will lose their jobs when they come under the control of the feds: “The management of these banks will be fired. If the bank is taken over by the FDIC, the people running the bank should not work there anymore.”

Biden said that an investigation will follow to find out what went wrong at these institutions: “There are important questions as to how these banks got into these circumstances in the first place. We must get a full accounting into what happened,” adding those responsible “will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

Silicon Valley Bank, a tech startup lender, became the first major bank to fail in more than two years. Regulators then shut down New York’s Signature Bank on Sunday, on the heels of closing Silicon Valley Bank on Friday.

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