Alaska

Sarah Palin on spreading the oil wealth in Alaska

“We’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” — Gov. Sarah Palin, speaking to the New Yorker several weeks before she was nominated for vice president, on Alaska’s brand of socialism collective ownership

Longest-serving Republican in Senate found guilty of concealing gifts on disclosure forms

Jurors have convicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens of lying on Senate disclosure forms in order to conceal home renovations and other gifts he received from the oil-field engineering firm VECO Corp. and its CEO. Stevens was found guilty on all of seven counts against him and now faces up to five years in prison on […]

Most ubiquitous fish in American diet 50 percent below last year’s levels

Here’s a guest post from Jennifer Jacquet of the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia, and blogger-in-chief of the Shifting Baselines Blog. —– Ask a scientist to give a good example of a well-managed fishery, and they often will cite the Alaska pollock fishery. But John Hocevar of Greenpeace-USA prefers to […]

Feds will designate critical habitat for polar bears

The U.S. government will designate critical habitat for polar bears off Alaska’s coast as part of a partial settlement of a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity. The Interior Department declared polar bears a threatened species in May, but neglected to make any stipulations for habitat […]

Sarah Palin, polar bears, and junk science

There’s lots of buzz around this piece in the Guardian, in which Ed Pilkington shows that Alaska governor Sarah Palin, battling to keep polar bears off the endangered species list, made use of junk science and scientists funded in part by Exxon and the American Petroleum Institute. Those interested in the subject should read this […]

A roundup of news on the presidential election

• Barack Obama visited Nevada, where he assured voters that he loves the mining industry. • Locals in Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasila, Alaska, say that she “fouled her own nest” by promoting rampant development during her tenure as mayor. “Sarah’s legacy as mayor was big-box stores and runaway growth,” said one resident. One of […]

Palin’s climate skepticism is irrelevant

The Washington Post‘s Juliet Eilperin writes a piece on Sarah Palin’s climate skepticism that seems, like so many articles in this genre, to dance around something obvious. In the piece, upon finding out that Palin doesn’t believe in anthropogenic climate change, one Alaska enviro is quoted saying "now I know why" Palin fought emission reductions. […]

Democrat Mark Begich looks to unseat indicted Ted Stevens

Sarah Palin isn’t the only Alaskan in a hot race this election season. Enviros are also closely watching the state’s Senate race, which has incumbent Republican Ted Stevens up against Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage. Stevens cruised to an easy victory in the Republican primary last month, winning 63 percent of the vote […]

McCain/Palin energy lie about Alaska the latest to come in for media scrutiny

In her Friday interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin said that Alaska "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." McCain has said the same thing — in an interview with Univision that aired Friday, he said, "Alaska supplies 20 percent of America’s energy." It’s clearly an established campaign talking point. Thing […]