Sarah Palin's environmental record: baked Alaskan
Tina Fey look-alike Sarah Palin was chosen to be the Republican vice-presidential candidate today. The Alaska governor, who's been in office a scant two years, seems to participate in a disturbing mode of anti-green Alaskan thought. I don't know whether it's because they get paid up there when the oil companies make money, or because there's so much wild land that they can't imagine the possibility of running out of "nature," or because they use so much gas getting to and from their woodland cabins and don't want to have to feel guilty about it; regardless, Alaskans, and hence, Alaskan elected officials have a habit of being pretty brown in their thinking. (Pissed off green Alaskans, feel free to comment and prove me wrong.) The specifics of Palin's enviro-record:
*As the blog Red, Green and Blue points out, she has gone on record as one of those people who still believe that global warming may not be an anthropogenic phenomenon ("I'm not one though who would attribute it [global warming] to being man-made," quoth she). Interestingly, McCain himself has acknowledged that climate change is anthropogenic.
*I wrote on this blog a couple weeks ago about Palin's leadership in the matter of a suit determined to undermine the Endangered Species Act's designation of the polar bear as "threatened." Guess what? Polar bears tread on areas where oil can be found; Palin seems determined to keep pesky species extirpations from diminishing oil company profits in any way.
*As you might be able to infer from the previous point, Palin is a strong advocate of opening up ANWR to drilling. When asked about environmentalists' arguments against the move, and the idea that the small amount of oil available up there would barely make a dent in gas prices (and would be gone quite soon), Palin first pointed out that since ANWR doesn't have mountains and rivers, it's not worth saving; then snapped, "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."













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-29-2008 @ 5:24PM
Cat Lincoln said...
She is terrifying!
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8-29-2008 @ 6:24PM
Kamal said...
Can she still be a vp if she is in prison? She is under investigation for some alleged illegal activities, ya know?
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8-29-2008 @ 8:58PM
Cameron said...
I wonder how the alaskans affected by the exxon valdez oil spill feel about her. The supreme court decided to cut the 5 billion dollar fine against exxon to a mere 500 million. The fine was to reimburse those whose livelyhood (fishing) was affected by the largest environmental disaster in history. Now, they will get only a fraction of what they should have recieved years ago. Wildlife has still not recovered to the pre-spill levels and those americans will continue to suffer from the consequences. What did she have to say to the supreme court when they decided to let big oil off the hook and the Americans that elected her starve? If she is willing to let Big Oil rape Alaskans just imagine what she's willing to do to the other 49 states. And do we really need another VP in the pocket of big oil?
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8-29-2008 @ 9:32PM
pnws said...
Being part of the minority here in Alaska (liberal environmentalist) it is difficult to rage against the machine of Alaskan politics.
This past Tuesday several ballot measures were not passed such as the Clean Water Act and the ban on aerial hunting of wolves (this past year 14 wolf pups were pulled from their den and shot in the head).
Alaska still has it's good ol' boy mentality and it is with great shame to see how both Ted Stevens and Don Young will most likely be re-elected even when both are under federal investigation. Stevens trial will begin in September. Don Young is still battling the close race with Parnell (current Lt. Gov), and has not been claimed the winner as of yet.
One other note: Most people in the lower 48 (that's how Alaskans refer to the rest of the country) are not aware of the Pebble Mine project which is slated to create the largest open pit mine in the world. While it's in a remote area, the mine will pollute one of the very last pristine spawning areas of Bristol Bay salmon. Please inform yourselves and pass the word along - this mine will be run by a Canadian company and as proven with other mines it will have a negative environmental impact. Sarah Palin endorsed the failure of the Clean Water Act - claiming it would hurt jobs in the mining industry and that Alaska has some of the strictest water discharge laws. What she failed to mention is the Frank Murkowski (former senator/govenor) slowly eroded those laws during his term.
Again, it's just more of the same - only this time it comes wrapped in a pretty package (S. Palin).
If you can, try and see the documentary Red Gold - it's about the Pebble mine.
Peace - love - respect the earth and VOTE!
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9-03-2008 @ 12:24PM
Letha said...
Dear npws
Do you have a regular blog, website or other Net presence? I would like to hear more and link to your site.
Thanks, Letha
www.asianhealthsecrets.com
10-27-2008 @ 10:16PM
Lisa said...
Keep up the "Green" momentum Alaska! You are making a difference and the lower 48 may finally be waking up! :-)
8-29-2008 @ 9:55PM
Jim Cass said...
Congrats! It's so exciting to have a McCain and Palin ticket in 2008! Good Luck!
http://www.johnmccainsarahpalin.us
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8-30-2008 @ 6:04AM
rick g said...
She's responsible for the Exxon Valdez eh? Wow.
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8-30-2008 @ 10:38AM
jeannie said...
The pretty package? The glass ceiling: and the screaming silence on the web and TV news.
There is something very wrong. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I am waiting for someone to start saying something. We are afraid. The glass ceiling….it might crack and maim the person who says the things that need to be said. What is wrong with this picture?
Let’s look at Hillary. Hillary was an active mother. She had one child. I don’t know why she thought to have just one; maybe she couldn’t have anymore? But one, you can keep track of if you have a career. I had four. The youngest was 2 before I began to get political. I ran for an office, knowing I wouldn’t win, but I got something done with the running. I then went back to school, at 40 to get my degree in physics at 41, so I could teach. I remember the toll it took on me and the family. My kids were healthy. But studying physics was time consuming and I missed a lot of stuff. My daughter-in-law decided that one child was enough. She liked to work outside the home a couple of days a week, and she thought she could devote enough time to one, but maybe not any more.
I know that after having one child that the thought of ending a pregnancy is mostly out of the question. Even if you know that the child will need special care, more care than other children. Mother’s know how to do that, and mothers can adjust their perspective to take on the most incredulous tasks, out of love, out of duty…
Special needs child….what does that mean? It means a lot of one-on-one care. It means hours of repetitive teaching. It requires multi-tasking to be able to keep the family together, healthy, and loving. Other children might get resentful of the extra time needed for the special needs child…it takes painstaking juggling of time, smiles, hugs, and patience.
If you have a special needs child at age 44, say, when the child is 21 you will be 65. That’s ok…almost done…Not quite. When the child is 31 you will be 75….almost done? I know that my 25 year old just left home and I still worry…
So when someone who lets say has a special needs child at age 44, that someone is going to need a plan for way in the future….like social plans and group homes and things run by the government. The care of the child from 4 months to 4 years the developmental years is paramount. That time of development the most important if the child will have independence later.
But you know, that is not the point I am trying to make here…although I think someone should. My point is, that if I had a political job that took me away from my kids a lot, but my kids are doing ok because I have the community and relatives to help keep them in balance….my question is why in the world would a person like that not plan. Why would a person like that not have the foresight to know that more children would mean less time per individual child….more children would mean either less time at the job, or less time with the kids.
My point is that there seems to be a judgment problem here. This judgment problem looks a lot like starting a war without having a post attack plan…and then taking on more.
There is also another point that needs to be made. Anyone who would choose a green person, or a purple person, or a man, or a woman, with so little experience…who you didn’t know very well, is playing a psychological game with the public. It is not for the betterment of our country…it is not kind to that mother…it is using her and that lovely family to play a game. I find that despicable.
We have some pretty important problems ahead of us. They begin with Sustainability which means population, air, water, energy, atmosphere, and temperature to name a few. The other social problems are distrust, unfair economic favoritism, a planet that is ready to fight in about 5 different places and a war of our very own.
I am afraid that we need to refocus and remember what needs to be done here or we may not need to worry about elections in 40 years. This is not a game…We need people with good judgment, honor, and the energy needed to start us in the right direction.
Please someone start talking.
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8-30-2008 @ 11:04AM
Jerry said...
McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as a VP running mate is certainly interesting, if not downright bizarre. And when it comes to the environment, she’s as backwards thinking as you can get.
In a recent interview with Newsmax magazine, she said she doesn’t believe that global warming is anthropogenic (caused by people), saying “I'm not one who would attribute it to being man-made.” Scientific evidence clearly calls into question her reasoning.
She’s against adding polar bears to the endangered species list, even though it is clearly evident that melting ice caused by global warming is causing thousands of polar bears to starve. She actually sued the federal government for listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
She also supports opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling.
It just so happens that polar bears live in the refuse areas where she wants to drill, which would be quite inconvenient to the oil companies. She even admitted as much by saying, “We believe that listing polar bears as such is a significant threat to development, because most live on the North Slope.” Her justification for drilling in a wild area like the ANWR is that there is a “misperception is that this is a huge swath of pristine land, full of mountains and rivers and wildlife.” Obviously, in her mind, because the refuge doesn’t have mountains and rivers, it’s not worth keeping pristine. Certainly not when there is oil to be drilled and profits to be made.
Just like Bush, her answer to our energy crisis is more oil (and oil profits), regardless of the environmental consequences. It’s perplexing that for someone with five kids, she doesn’t seem to be concerned about their future in a world threatened by climate change and environmental destruction.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), whose mission it is to turn environmental values into national priorities, said of Palin, “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. This ticket now stands in even starker contrast to the visionary energy plan laid out by Senator Obama, which will create millions of new jobs, improve our national security, and reduce global warming pollution. Now more than ever, America is in need of real vision and leadership to bring us a new clean energy future, and the McCain-Palin ticket offers nothing of the sort.”
Together with McCain, who the LCV gave a score of zero for his environmental voting record in 2007, the McCain/Palin ticket is no friend of the environment, and anyone who cares about the environment. McCain sure picked a winner.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of Bush’s anti-environmental policies during the last 8 years. I can’t stand the thought of 4 more.
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8-30-2008 @ 3:33PM
Suzanne said...
Absolutely disgusting.
She is a bigger sleaze than McBush himself.
I am pretty confident that Obama will win, unless the Repugnants manage to steal the election again.
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8-31-2008 @ 6:56AM
William Landers said...
She is not qualifed, this is a joke on the American People.
Come over to ameriborn.com tell me all you can about her.
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9-02-2008 @ 10:35AM
Fred said...
Are these posts the best the libs have? Want to talk about terrifying: having a cocaine addict become President! Nuclear weapons and cocaine do not mix well at all. Now that's an environmental disaster for sure! As for being qualified, she has been serving longer in government than Obama. Also, she has something Obama does not have: executive level experience. Palin's staff is thousands, Obama's is what - 20 people? I'll take a strong leader like Palin over an acknowledged criminal drug user like Obama any day.
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9-02-2008 @ 11:05AM
Brad said...
Brillant, you must have forgotten that GW Bush is a coke head, drunk, c average harvard student.
9-02-2008 @ 5:54PM
Harrison said...
A cocoaine addict? You mean GW Bush?
9-03-2008 @ 3:59PM
woodenbee said...
yeah sorry we don't make up lies that sound good, so we can rip off the public, its a liberal thing, you wouldn't understand
9-18-2008 @ 11:35PM
Lisa Wallace said...
You sound like you are on drugs.
9-02-2008 @ 5:54PM
Harrison said...
Ahhh! The right wing mentality defies all normal logic. It's a crash and burn mentality which is why their heroes are people like Reagan, John Wayne and Charlton Heston. But somehow there's a constituency that finds these things so rewarding that they are pushing for another four years...
environmental destruction, wars, unfair trade, genocidal trading partners (read China), religious zealots, scandals, hypocrisy, corporate media
I can go on, but my brain tires of the insanity of it all
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9-02-2008 @ 7:42PM
Kelly said...
Can we point out that McCain cannot be trusted because of his involvement with the Savings and Loan scandal,(cheating the government) and cheating his first wife at least with 7 other women before he married his last mistress Cindy. He is hot headed and doesn't think before he speaks, barks down the heads of those who oppose him. Did you see the way he threatened Russia on the Georgia invasion. Remember how Reagan admitted he was wrong to call Russia the Axis of Evil and negotiated with them to end the cold war. Obama is smart and a great negotiator, he will not get us into World War III. Let's talk character and trustworthiness. Who is going to reverse global warming, end our dependence on oil, put education first, bring jobs back to America, and put the American people back into good favor with the world. It is Obama
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9-02-2008 @ 8:50PM
chuck pierson said...
She has probably made more decisions as an executive manager in 1 1/2 yrs as governor than O'bama has made in his life. while he is making earmarks of over 2 million to the church in chicago just before the Rev. RITE retired and built himself a one million dollar retirement home, sarah palin is telling the feds to keep their earmarks, and if alaska needs a bridge, they will build it themselves.
We have proved we can extract oil from the ground and out of the sea safely and cleanly....what's wrong with paying american oil companies for the oil instead of the middle eastern countries? exxon made 18 billion in quarterly profits by working their butt off and the fed gov made 33 billion off exxon with out getting off their buts.....what's wrong with THIS PICTURE?????
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