Haaland, after the approval was announced earlier this week, released a video calling it “difficult and complex” but saying it was inherited from prior administrations.
The video came after the White House said the Interior Department would make an “independent decision” on whether to approve it.
Yet Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said that his advocacy in support of the project was with President Biden, not Haaland.
“Deb Haaland was not in the loop on this at all,” he told reporters this week.
However, an Interior Department spokesperson said that Haaland was “actively involved in Willow discussions from the beginning.”
Meanwhile, the administration’s press release on the topic focused on moves that were made to shrink the project, such as allowing it to move forward with three drill sites instead of the five originally requested by ConocoPhillips.
The decision was also politically difficult for Biden, who wants to be seen as doing everything he can to keep fuel prices low, but alienated allies in the environmental movement.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
