Alaska

Pipeline to nowhere

Remember the natural gas pipeline that played such a big role in Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech? The one God himself blessed? One of the few actual accomplishments on her resume? Turns out not so much: The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and […]

McCain’s running mate has offered mixed message on climate change

Sarah Palin, in her Sept. 11, 2008, interview with ABC News: “Show me where I have ever said that there’s absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any effect, or no effect, on climate change.” Palin, in a Newsmax interview last month: “A changing environment will affect Alaska […]

Alaska natural-gas pipeline is far from a done deal

Photo: triciaward In her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin touted her role in moving forward a plan for a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to the Lower 48. The GOP veep candidate declared, “That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will […]

Gourmet’s Barry Estabrook on Palin, mining, and a sustainable salmon fishery

Wasn’t McCain initially trying to pitch Sarah Palin as some sort of maverick who stands up to Alaska’s dirty industries on matters of principle? Whatever. According to an excellent post by Barry Estabrook on Gourmet magazine’s blog, Sarah Barracuda has been baring her fangs on behalf of Alaska’s mining industry, even when its actions imperil […]

Palin’s ‘energy expertise’

Alaska is basically a petrostate — to the extent oil prices rise, it benefits. Thus politicians in Alaska develop a very sophisticated ability to encourage Alaskan energy exploration and to use the resulting revenue to garner support among their constituents. It’s difficult to see how that sort of “expertise” is going to translate to the […]

Note to media: Pork queen Palin is an earmark expert, not an energy expert

If you google “Palin ‘energy expert,'” you’ll find more than 10,000 hits. It’s no surprise that conservative shills like George Pataki and Haley Barbour use that label — heck, a major conservative talking point is that she’s a foreign-policy expert because “Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia,” as Cindy McCain put […]

Palin was for the bridge before she was against it

Remember the Bridge to Nowhere? Last week, in her VP acceptance speech, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the crowd, “I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere.” Turns out she was for the bridge before she was against it. The bridge (actually called the Gravina Island Bridge) was the mother of […]

McCain’s veep pick talks energy, ANWR, and the improbability of being tapped for VP

During a June 25, 2008, appearance on CNBC’s Kudlow & Company, Sarah Palin said, "Sen. McCain is wrong" on the issue of oil drilling.  She said, "I think he’s going to evolve into eventually supporting ANWR opening also …  I’d like the opportunity to change his mind about ANWR."  She was also asked about the […]

Industry groups sue Interior over polar bear

The U.S. Interior Department has been sued yet again over polar bears, this time by five industry groups that say the agency’s regulations for protecting bears unfairly single out Alaska businesses’ contribution to climate change. When the polar bear was declared a threatened species because of climate change, Interior went to great lengths to note […]