US President Joe Biden came under fire on Monday after his administration announced the approval of a $6 billion (€5.59 billion) oil drilling project in the north-western state of Alaska, despite pledges from the president to promote clean energy.

The White House gave approval to the US energy giant ConocoPhillips to drill at three sites on Alaska's North Slope — the largest undisturbed tract of land in the country — while refusing permission for a fourth site.

The decision came after a push by environmental groups to hold Biden to his promise of not approving any new leases for oil and gas projects on federal land.

Earthjustice president Abigail Dillen said, "We are too late in the climate crisis to approve massive oil and gas projects that directly undermine the new clean economy that the Biden administration committed to advancing."

"We know President Biden understands the existential threat of climate, but he is approving a project that derails his own climate goals."

How many barrels will the Willow Project produce?

The so-called Willow Project had been approved by former President Donald Trump at the end of his term but was blocked by a judge who called for the approval to be reviewed.

The Bureau of Land Management carried out an environmental impact analysis in February, in which it gave the green light for the three drilling sites.

The project was lobbied for by lawmakers in Alaska as well as other stakeholders. Production is expected to reach a peak of 180,000 barrels of oil per day and a total of around 576 million barrels over a 30-year lifetime.

Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous said, "Willow will be one of the largest oil and gas operations on federal public lands in the country, and the carbon pollution it will spew into the air will have devastating effects for our communities, wildlife, and the climate,"

"We will suffer the consequences of this for decades to come," Jealous added.

Environmentalists slam hypocrisy

The Biden administration also announced a raft of new protections for Alaskan land and water.

They build on Obama-era protections and would place almost three million acres of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean "indefinitely off limits" to drilling.

The Bureau of Land Management also said that by reducing the size of the land proposed by ConocoPhillips, it was decreasing the project's freshwater use, and preventing the need for 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) of road, 20 miles of pipeline and 133 acres of gravel.

Environmental advocates have criticized Biden for the hypocrisy of announcing environmental protections while at the same time approving drill sites that will release over 250 million metric tons of carbon emissions over three decades — according to the Sierra Club.

ab/ar (AFP, Reuters, AP)