ArcticToday The project's approvals from the outgoing Trump administration are now the subject of a legal battle. ByKanishka Singh, Reuters U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks after touring Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan on May 18, 2021. (Leah Millis / Reuters File Photo) U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration defended on Wednesday a proposed ConocoPhillips oil development in Alaska’s Arctic, backing the drilling project which was approved under the administration of former President Donald Trump. “A Wednesday filing by the U.S. Department of Justice continues to defend a 2020 Record of Decision for the Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska (NPR-A)” a spokesman of the U.S. Interior Department said in an email.