President Joe Biden flip-flopped on allowing new oil and gas drilling on federal lands

As he campaigned for president in 2020, Joe Biden responded to a New Hampshire town hall question unequivocally, adding repetition for emphasis.

"No more drilling on federal lands," he said Feb. 9, 2020. "Period. Period. Period. Period."

Biden repeated his stance a month later, saying at a presidential primary debate: "No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends." 

Three years later, the Biden administration disappointed supporters of his climate change policy by approving a major drilling project in Alaska. 

The March 13 decision allows ConocoPhillips to drill up to 199 wells for oil and gas in the Willow Reservoir in the North Slope of Alaska.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips processes, refines and markets crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products. The Willow project, which is expected to last 30 years, will be done mostly on federal lands.