The environment and Sarah Palin

Rick Steiner, an Alaskan "guest columnist" for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is disappointed with John McCain's pick for a running mate. By choosing Sarah Palin, says Steiner, McCain "has shown a spectacular, even dangerous lack of judgment."

Steiner explains: Not only is Ms. Palin utterly lacking any qualifications to be vice president, but she "is an evangelical, anti-choice, pro-gun, right-wing conservative who wants creationism taught in schools. She is currently under investigation by the Alaska Legislature for alleged abuse of office. Many of us in Alaska simply cannot imagine Palin having anything to do with U.S. foreign policy, domestic policy, national defense or the countless other affairs of federal governance."

But what is extremely "worrisome" about Palin "is her abysmal record on the environment during her two years as governor, and how that would translate into national environmental policy if she became vice president."

Mr. Steiner offers the following as evidence of Palin's perfidy:

1. Climate change. Palin has done nothing about this "except hold meetings and appoint a 'climate sub-cabinet' ... Lots of talk, no action. Although in the past two years the Arctic summer sea ice shrunk to the lowest levels every recorded, Palin apparently does not believe it is human-induced or cause for alarm..."

2. Polar bears. Palin sued the Bush administration this summer to try to remove polar bears from the threatened species list. She claimed "her opposition was based on a 'comprehensive scientific review.' But when asked to release the scientific review, she refused."

Now, for the "good" part: "The document, later obtained by the public (from the federal government), clearly shows that, contrary to Palin's assertions, the state of Alaska's marine mammal scientists agreed with the federal conclusions that the polar bears are in serious trouble because of global warming and loss of their sea ice habitat, and that they would be gone from Alaska by 2050."

In other words, once again Palin lies in order to protect her allies in the oil and gas business!

3. Endangered species. "Earlier this year, Palin approved a $2 million state appropriation for a conference on the 'economic impacts' of the Endangered Species Act, designed to persuade the public that ESA listings were too costly and unwarranted. Recently she agreed to use the money instead to fund the state's lawsuit against the Bush administration over the polar bear listing -- a likely violation of the state constitutional provisions on appropriation. ..."

4. Predator control. "Palin approved and expanded the state's aerial predator control progam, where wolves are shot from aircraft and bears hunted from aircraft and killed upon landing. ... Last year, her administration offered a $150 bounty for each wolf killed until the bounty was ruled illegal by the courts. Hundreds of wolves are killed each year by this antiquated state program that has no scientific justification whatsoever, but rather is designed to appease Palin's urban sport hunter supporters."

Hockey mom, my ass! Sorry, but there is something seriously wrong with someone who thinks shooting wolves from the air and hunting down bears from the air to kill them is "sport"!

5. Pebble mine. "Palin aggressively opposed the 'clean water initiative' on the August ballot in Alaska (which then failed), favoring instead foreign mining company desires for fewer government regulations controlling their toxic effluent into salmon streams. ..."

6. Oil and gas drilling. Palin enthusiastically approves drilling everywhere in Alaska, "including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the central Arctic, the entire Arctic Ocean, and in fish-rich Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet." To this end, she has been lax in terms of "regulation and government oversight of Alaska's oil facilities ... "

7. Exxon Valdez oil spill damages. "Palin refuses to push Exxon to pay the government for the unanticipated environmental injuries from the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. ... Meanwhile, Exxon reaps record profits from Alaska."

8. Trans Pacific shipping. Coastal residents and organization have asked Palin repeatedly "to enhance the safety of merchant shipping through Alaska's Aleutian Islands, a primary shipping route between Asia and North America, but she's done nothing ...


Vote for McCain and you will put this human environmental disaster in a position to do harm, not just to Alaska, but to all of America!

You can read the entire article by Mr. Steiner here. This is an article by Faux News about the polar bear situation. Additional information about Sarah Palin and the environment here.