Energy, Environment Will Be Central to McCain-Palin Campaign

"Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president," McCain said today in Dayton.

"Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources," said McCain. "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."

Senator John McCain introduces Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. (Photo courtesy McCain campaign)

Palin said she would not abandon her responsibilities as governor during the presidential race. "As the mother of five, I know how to multi-task, and I will continue to promote the path of reform that we set out on together in the state of Alaska," she said.

Virtually unknown to the American public, Palin in the role of the Republican vice presidential nominee came as a shock to Jim di Peso, policy director of the advocacy group Republicans for Environmental Protection, or REP America.

"I was bowled over when I heard the news - what a surprise," he told ENS in an interview. "I don't think anyone saw this coming. I thought Pawlenty, Romney, possibly Lieberman. Obviously, we support McCain, we're going to support his choice of running mate. We're trying to figure out what it all means."

"Any elected leader in Alaska is in favor of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling," said di Peso. "That's just part of the furniture in Alaska politics."

But McCain is opposed to drilling in the refuge, and now Palin "will have to abide by his wishes," said di Peso. "The ensign doesn't get to tell the admiral what to do."

He said REP America supports Governor Palin's moves to move Alaskan natural gas south with a new pipeline.

On Wednesday, Palin signed a bill into law giving the state of Alaska authority to award TransCanada Pipelines a license to build and operate the $26 billion dollar 1,715-mile pipeline. It will transport natural gas from the North Slope through Canada to the lower 48 states.

Another consortium, including BP, that had sought pipeline rights was left out of the deal.

"That energy pipeline enjoys broad support," said di Peso. "It is useful in increasing the use of gas as a bridge fuel to a clean energy future."

In response to high oil and gas prices, and the resulting Alaska budget surplus, on Monday Palin signed legislation providing a one-time special payment of $1,200 to every Alaskan eligible for the 2008 Permanent Fund dividend. The bill'also suspends the state's motor fuel tax on gasoline, marine fuel, and aviation fuel for a year.

"In rural Alaska, particularly, many people are facing a choice between feeding their families and heating their homes, and they could use this payment from the state's energy-generated surplus to cover some of those bills," Palin said.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor)

In May, Palin objected to the decision of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to list polar bears as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. She threatened a lawsuit to stop the listing, fearing that it would hurt oil and gas development in the bears' habitat off Alaska's coasts.

She says the climate change models cited by Kempthorne and environmentalists that predict melting of Arctic ice due to climate change are "unreliable."

Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, has worked to protect the polar bear from climate change. Today he called the choice of Palin "shocking."

"Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming," he said.

"Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration."

"Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP, formerly British Petroleum, has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska's coasts, and put special interests above science," Schlickeisen said.

Conservative Republicans are behind McCain's choice. Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Alliance Action, chairman of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, called the choice of Palin "absolutely brilliant."

Attending a meeting of national conservative leaders in Minneapolis where the Republican National Convention opens on Monday, Staver said, "She has not merely talked about the energy crisis, she has actively worked to create solutions."

But the League of Conservation Voters today expressed its "deep disappointment" with McCain's choice.

"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," said LCV President Gene Karpinski said.

"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," Karpinsky said. "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."

This ticket now stands in even starker contrast to the visionary energy plan laid out by Senator Obama last night, which will create millions of new jobs, improve our national security, and reduce global warming pollution.

When she took the oath of office on December 4, 2006 at the age of 42, Palin became the first female governor of Alaska, the youngest, and the first governor born after Alaska achieved statehood.

Born in Idaho and raised in Wasilla, Alaska, Palin earned a journalism degree from the University of Idaho and returned to Alaska where she worked as a commercial fisherwoman with her husband, Todd, who now works for the energy corporation BP at an oil field on Alaska's North Slope in winter and continues to fish in summer.

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996, when she became mayor of Wasilla, a small town 43 miles northeast of Anchorage.

In 2003, Palin was appointed ethics commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. She resigned the following year in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest. She filed formal complaints against two Republican officials, who both resigned.

As governor, Palin has promoted oil resource development in Alaska, but also helped pass a tax increase on oil company profits. She has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Alaska.

Palin proclaimed September as Energy Efficiency Month in Alaska. The proclamation encourages Alaskans to lower their costs by conserving energy and by using existing energy more efficiently.

"Conserving energy and using it more efficiently doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sacrifice your quality of life," she said. "It's the little things, like making sure lights, computers and appliances are turned off – and slowing down on the road, which will save money spent on gasoline."

REP America's di Peso says the McCain-Palin ticket will be good for a healthy debate on environmental issues.

"One of the things we're trying to accomplish as an organization is to move the environment from being a partisan poltical football - an issue that Republicans disdain and Democrats assume that they've cornered the market on," he told ENS.

We've got to get it out of the partisan box," he said. "The value of McCain is that he has moved in that direction. He has confronted issues that most Republicans have shied away from. McCain is willing to treat the issue of environmental protection on its merits as a serious concern."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.