Willow Environmental Impact Statement

SWCA supported the prime contractor, DOWL, in the development of a third-party Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the North Slope of Alaska. The EIS evaluates proposed oil and gas development on owner-operated leases within the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A) for ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.

The proposed project, commonly known as the Willow Project, is a large, complex, and highly scrutinized undertaking. It includes the construction of an offshore module transfer island, five drill sites, a central processing facility, an operations center, an airstrip, as well as associated roads and pipelines. Given the project’s scale and environmental sensitivity, the EIS required rigorous alternatives analysis, cumulative effects evaluation, and coordination among multiple cooperating agencies.

SWCA’s role focused on providing senior NEPA expertise and technical support, including alternatives development, cumulative effects analysis, comment analysis, NEPA writing, and technical editing to ensure regulatory compliance and defensible documentation. This work supported BLM’s decision-making process while meeting federal NEPA standards for transparency and scientific integrity.