Palin around: The eco-rundown on Alaska Guv. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s Veep pick.
Posted by Grist at 8:45 AM on 29 Aug 2008, Last updated 10:29 a.m. PDT

GOP presidential candidate John McCain today announced that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his running mate in the race against Barack Obama and Joe Biden. McCain’s official announcement of his veep pick declares, “Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources. She leads a state that matters to every one of us — Alaska has significant energy resources and she has been a leader in the fight to make America energy independent.”

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Here are some quick snapshots of Palin’s record on issues related to energy and the environment:

Opposed a statewide ballot initiative to prohibit or restrict new mining operations that could affect salmon in the state’s streams and rivers

Has pushed to build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope

Got the state legislature to pass a bill to provide each Alaskan $1,200 to help with energy costs

Sued the Interior Department over its decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species

Has proposed eliminating Alaska’s gas tax

Has pushed to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling

Has created a committee to forge Alaska’s climate-change strategy, and has made Alaska an observer (but not a member) of the Western Climate Initiative

Opposes a windfall profits tax on oil companies

Was the ethics commissioner of the Alaska Gas and Oil Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004
Lifelong angler and hunter

Husband is an oil production operator for BP on Alaska’s North Slope

Started Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office, an oversight and maintenance agency for the state’s oil and gas equipment, facilities, and infrastructure

Chairs the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a multistate panel “that promotes the conservation and efficient recovery of domestic oil and natural gas resources while protecting health, safety and the environment”

Believes intelligent design should be taught along with evolution in science classes

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Quotable quotes from Palin:

When I look every day, the big oil company’s building is right out there next to me, and it’s quite a reminder that we should have mutually beneficial relationships with the oil industry.

Alternative-energy solutions are far from imminent and would require more than 10 years to develop.
I believe in protecting Alaska’s environment through fair enforcement of our environmental laws. Having a clean record on environmental regulation is critical to getting ANWR open and maintaining our fisheries, mining, timber, and tourism industries.
I am not only a champion for Alaska’s fishing industry, but a part of it. My family is proud to be a Bristol Bay fishing family. That’s why, as Governor I will do what’s right for Alaska’s fishing communities. I know the resource must come first in our management decisions. If we manage for abundance, we should have enough fish for all our needs.
We believe that the … decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available.
I am encouraged with [John McCain’s] evolved thinking on offshore drilling, and I think he might come along on ANWR if he sees our 2,000 acres for himself.
I get frustrated with folks from outside Alaska who come up and say, “You shouldn’t develop your resources.”
We have so much potential from tapping our resources here in Alaska. And we can do this with minimum environmental impact. We have a very pro-development president in President Bush, and yet he failed to push for opening up parts of Alaska to drilling through Congress — and a Republican-controlled Congress, I might add.

I thought when we hit $100 a barrel for oil it would have been a psychological barrier that would have caused Congress to reconsider, but they didn’t. Now we are approaching $200 a barrel. It’s nonsense not to tap a safe domestic source of oil. I think Americans need to hold Congress accountable on this one.
A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute [global warming] to being man-made.
I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can’t drill our way out of our problem or that more supply won’t ultimately affect prices. Of course it will affect prices.

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Reactions to the pick.

Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil, and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.

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Sierra Club President Carl Pope:

With the pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, John McCain’s race towards the Bush administration’s failed energy policy is now complete.

John McCain was once willing to stand up to his own party, but now that he is running for President, he supports the same Bush policies and powerful special interests that put us in the grip of the oil companies. One of the last remaining independent policies putting him at odds with Bush was his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, yet he has now picked a running mate who has opposed holding Big Oil accountable and been dismissive of alternative energy while focusing her work on more oil drilling in a wildlife refuge and off of our coasts.

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Senator McCain has lost any chance of having a balanced or moderate ticket with this choice and has instead opted for the same, business-as-usual reliance on the outdated oil companies that has been the hallmark of the Bush-Cheney administration. On the third anniversary of the hurricane that knocked loose oil rigs and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast that is bracing for another hit, McCain is sending a terribly indifferent message by selecting a candidate who only repeats Big Oil’s talking points.

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Friends of the Earth Action President Brent Blackwelder:

Sarah Palin’s record is not extensive — just two years ago she was the mayor of a city of less than 10,000 people — but what her record indicates is troubling. This spring, she opposed the listing of polar bears as a ‘threatened’ species. She supports the brutal aerial hunting of wolves. And she has been a friend of Big Oil, opposing a windfall profits tax on the oil industry that could fund affordable clean energy for more Americans. Palin’s husband works for BP.

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League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski:

Unfortunately, with her support for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and off our coasts, Governor Palin will simply continue the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration and their Big Oil friends — policies that could make us even more dependent on foreign oil.

Governor Palin characterizes McCain’s flip-flop on drilling offshore as a positive step in his transformation from maverick to Big Oil’s best friend. She has implored McCain to change his position against drilling in the Arctic — something she will have plenty of opportunities to pursue as his running mate.

In addition to supporting backward-looking energy policies, Governor Palin has also opposed a crucial clean water initiative, sued the federal government for listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and opposed other important wildlife protection measures.

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For story: Palin around
14 Comments by 2:30pm

Palin family values:

Half (?) the family income is from BP, her husband separates the oil from the water up in the oil fields. A janitorial position? How much more does he make than the average oil worker because he is the governor’s hubby?
Check the ex-brother-in-law scandal in the family woodpile. Still under investigation by the state.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/8/29/ …

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Can’t wait to see Palin debating foreign policy and national security with Joe Biden.

 http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 9:01 AM on 29 Aug 2008

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Natural Gas Can Save A Planet:

The most significant achievement is the natural gas pipeline.
Fuel cells consuming natural gas can eliminate the burning problems of hydrocarbons and replace them with natural reactions leaving just water and needed energy.

Sarah Palin may have already saved the world, and was looking good while doing it.

by jabailo at 9:02 AM on 29 Aug 2008

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Palin is scared:

She looks to have stage fright. The professional cheering section in the crowd doesn’t match McBushies’ wooden delivery. Go shoot some dice, you anger management challenged gambling addict.

 http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
by amazingdrx at 9:23 AM on 29 Aug 2008

Could be part of “drill, drill, drill”

They’re pushing the fact that she wants to open up ANWR, Alaska has oil, blah blah blah. I guess “drill, drill, drill” is the only thing that works for them, so they’ll push, push, push it.

by Jon Rynn at 9:32 AM on 29 Aug 2008

40 billion NG pipeline

To make us energy independent. More “Pickens” around at oil and gas bribery and GHG climate disaster.

 http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
by amazingdrx at 9:39 AM on 29 Aug 2008

Jabailo - huh?

Fuel cells consuming natural gas can eliminate the burning problems of hydrocarbons and replace them with natural reactions leaving just water and needed energy.
How exactly does natural gas (even if used in a fuel cell) not qualify as a hydrocarbon? What are these “natural reactions” of which you speak (even a fuel cell converts CH4 –> CO2 and H2O, in part through reformation and in part electrolytically). And what mass balance are you using that takes leaves only water and energy from a fuel source that includes carbon?

Natural gas is clearly better than coal from an environmental perspective, but suggesting that it will save the planet is no more accurate than suggesting that giving up hamburgers for bison-burgers makes you a vegetarian.

by Sean Casten at 9:42 AM on 29 Aug 2008
[ Parent ]
A slip up, hehey

She said, “…nuclea…nuke..you..ler weapons”. Almost said it the right way, but quickly reverted to industrial programming.
Does nuke..you..ler work better in test audiences? It’s got to be some sort of advertising/brainwashing research study.

Oh now you can shatter that glass ceiling women! So she says.

Get two more supreme court justices appointed who want to put your reproductive rights back into the evangelical taliban era?

 http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 9:47 AM on 29 Aug 2008
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Nuclear:

Nu-kyu-lar is now a recognized but not preferred alternative pronunciation by most dictionaries. I’m not happy about it either, but the day is past when you can smugly point it out as an error.

by KenG at 10:01 AM on 29 Aug 2008

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biden is greener:

biden = useful after the election
palin = disposable candidate
already our landfills are crowded with symbolism. the world wants to know, is palin plastic or cardboard? is she recyclable?

by hapa at 10:10 AM on 29 Aug 2008

I’m with KenG

And lest we get all cranky about it, it bears noting that no one gets upset about the fact that “comfortable” is even more consistently misprounced in the same way (e.g., with a letter swap in the middle).
So if we’re going to get linguistically bent out of shape, let’s not get too comfterbull in our glass house, even if it is nukular powered.

by Sean Casten at 10:11 AM on 29 Aug 2008
[ Parent ]
McCain…

… said he chose her to help fight the special interests in Washington who spend tax dollars on stuff we don’t need or don’t want!
Haaaaahhhhhhahahahahaaaaahahahaa…. McCain… please stop it… you’re killing me!

“That’s not change we can believe in.”

by wiscidea at 10:35 AM on 29 Aug 2008

Uh oh…

Has anyone noticed that Dick Cheney hasn’t been around for a while? Perhaps he found a way to move his brain into a new body.

by wiscidea at 10:37 AM on 29 Aug 2008

A woman for Republican Vice pres:

Conservatives are like molasses. They slow down progressive ideas but in the end embrace them (if they turn out to be good ones). One day they may well have a lesbian VP but I’m not so sure about an atheist one.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts–Protecting the biodiversity of our world
by biodiversivist at 10:45 AM on 29 Aug 2008

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welfare queen:

I get frustrated with folks from outside Alaska who come up and say, “You shouldn’t develop your resources.”
And I get frustrated that Alaskans are such a bunch of federally subsidized freeloaders, getting $2-5+ (depending on the measure) for every $1 they pay. (I come from NJ, one of the biggest sap cash-cow states.)

And I get frustrated that all Alaskans get this fat dividend check from fossil fuels drilled mostly on federal land. Those proceeds belong to all of us.

And I get frustrated at all Westerners who have this attitude of an aggressive beggar - GIMMIE MONEY! NOW! BUT DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME HOW TO LIVE! DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! GO FUCK YOURSELF!

Will somebody tell these yahoos once and for all, federal land does not belong to them. It belongs to the country.
Believes intelligent design should be taught along with evolution in science classes
I hadn’t known before she was one of these.

This kind of Dark Age flat-earthism is empirical evidence that one is just a cretin.

by Russ at 11:05 AM on 29 Aug 2008