What is behind Sarah Palin’s attack on climate bill? Drill, baby, drill!

July 15, 10:42 AMSeattle Environmental Policy ExaminerJean Williams

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The soon-to-be former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, proclaimed in a Washington Post article July 14th, that the American Clean Energy and Security Act, (ACES), or what she refers to as “the president’s cap and trade energy tax”, will “inflict permanent damage” on our economy, and she recommends drilling for oil in ANWR instead.

First of all, ACES is legislation designed to reduce greenhouse emissions and help combat global warming and climate change. It is the first-ever climate bill to see the legislative light of day.

In the New York Times this morning, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) was quoted as saying:

“Yes, she manages to write about the climate change action in Congress without ever mentioning the reason we are doing this in the first place,” Mr. Kerry wrote. “It’s like complaining about the cost of repairing a roof without factoring in the leaks destroying your home.”

So, where is Palin really headed with this argument?

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the largest, most fragile and ecologically sensitive ecosystems on the planet. It is the only protected area in the world that includes an intact arctic, subarctic, and boreal ecosystem. The refuge encompasses 19 million acres and provides habitat to a diverse array of wildlife including millions of migratory birds, caribou, wolves, dall sheep, muskoxen, arctic and red foxes, wolverines, and bears; including the black bear, grizzly, and the majestic polar bear.

Palin admits that the U.S. should become less dependent on “foreign energy sources”, and that we should “protect the environment”, but suggests the president’s way is not the way to do it.

The former Alaskan governor doesn’t offer any suggestions on how to protect the environment in her Washington Post op-ed-ish piece, but she had this to say about energy:

We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore in a tiny, 2000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.

The reason the “go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats” has not been given, in spite of the Bush administration’s intense effort to do so, is because the American people have repeatedly made their voices heard and they do not approve of drilling in one of the last pristine places on the planet, to further America’s dependency on fossil fuels.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is known as the “Crown Jewel of the Circumpolar North” and it is a “publicly owned” refuge that belongs to all Americans; not just Alaskans.

The Congress and Senate have wisely listened to their constituents, who can read and are smarter than conservatives, including Sarah Palin, give them credit for. The white papers of the U.S. Department of Energy indicate that if drilling started in ANWR tomorrow, it would take 8-10 years before Americans would experience any relief at the gas pumps. Then, it would be another 10 years before it reached full capacity.

The “tiny, 2000-acrea corner” of ANWR that Palin refers to in her never ending quest to drill for more oil, is known as the coastal plain and it happens to be smack-dab in the middle of a narrow corridor used by the state’s porcupine caribou herd. Each year they traverse the long passage to a critical habitat, where few predators exist, and forage is plentiful. All of which comprises the one place caribou have been dependent upon every year for successful calving grounds. Indigenous people depend on healthy caribou herds.

There is no such thing as a drilling an oil well with a “small foot print” in an ecologically sensitive area the size of 1,500 football fields. It doesn’t matter if the pad is constructed of gravel or compacted ice or that modern technology has improved since the Prudhoe Bay well was constructed. There would still be roads and buildings installed, with all the noise that aircraft, trucks, machinery, and human activity can produce. There would be thousands of miles of overland pipeline. The project would adversely impact not only caribou, but polar bears, who migrate inland to dig birthing caves in the snow.

Sarah Palin is not oblivious to these facts, because they have been testified to by some of Alaska’s own scientists. Previously, there have been letters sent to President Clinton, signed by 21 Arctic biologists from the U.S. and Canada, urging permanent protection for ANWR. President Bush received a letter signed by over 500 prominent North American scientists urging the protection of the coastal plain to safeguard caribou and other natural resources.

Palin is interested in challenging the president’s energy bill, for one self-serving reason: the production of the Prudhoe Bay oil well is decreasing and the Alaskan economy needs a new source of revenue. Twenty years ago, Prudhoe Bay was producing 10 million barrels of oil per day and it has decreased to the current level of 1.4 million barrels per day.

The people of Alaska support drilling in ANWR for the same reason, because every year, residents get a substantial oil revenue check.

President Obama’s climate and energy bill is the best hope the United States has for investing in renewable energy sources like wind, solar, fuel cells; and creating green energy jobs for a sustainable future. The answer does not lie in big oil scare tactics. Nor will our country be weaned off fossil fuels by continuing to plunder Earth’s natural resources to suck it dry of a non-renewable commodity.

Sarah Palin’s article is so full of blatant misconceptions; a person has to wonder if she even bothered to read the climate legislation that was passed with the help of eight Republicans. However, the big question remains: did Sarah Palin decide to become an environmental, energy, and economic expert before or after she resigned as governor of Alaska?

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Readers might also be interested in these articles:

What Palin got wrong about energy, by Barbara Boxer and John kerry

Eight Republicans refused to drink the conservative kool aid

ACES may be too late to help wildlife

For photo credit run cursor over photograph * Copyright Jean Williams 2009 * Author also writes under pen name DelilahStarling. Permission to reprint up to three paragraphs with a direct “read full story” back to this page. Contact creatinggreenpiece@juno.com