Sarah Palin: worse than Bush on wildlife and environment

June 24, 7:19 PMSeattle Environmental Policy ExaminerJean Williams

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Whether the subject is drilling in ANWR, killing wolves from airplanes, or applauding the recent 6-3 vote by the Supreme Court that will allow 4.5 million tons of mine waste to be dumped into Alaska’s Lower Slate Lake; Alaska’s Republican Governor, Sarah Palin is worse than George W. Bush on wildlife and the environment.

SUPREME COURT RULING

On June 22, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal appeals court was incorrect to deny a waste disposal permit to the Army Corps of Engineers to reopen a gold mine that had been closed since 1928. This ruling now opens the way for the project to proceed and the operation is projected to produce 4.5 million tons of waste material from mine tailings, which is gravel left over from ore extraction. The waste will end up in a lake three miles north in the Tongass National Forest. Every species of fish in the lake is expected to be killed by the pollution.

“This is great news for Alaska”, said Governor Sarah Palin, who believes the ruling is a green light for “responsible resource development.” The Kensington mine will provide 370 jobs once it begins operation.

Environmentalists were stunned by the decision:

“If a mining company can turn Lower Slate Lake in Alaska into a lifeless waste dump, other polluters with solids in their wastewater can potentially do the same to any water body in America,” said Earthjustice president Trip Van Noppen. “The good news is that the problem is reversible. It was caused by a Bush administration rule reversing thirty years of successful regulation under the Clean Water Act. We call on Presidnet Obama to act immediately to repeal this rule and restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act.”

SHOOTING WOLVES FROM AIRPLANES

According to the Defenders of Wildlife Eye on Palin web site, today’s tally is 251 wolves killed this season.

Furthermore, the "Eye on Palin" campaign was launched in February this year to track and expose Governor Palin's increasingly extreme record on wildlife and conservation in Alaska. In the months since www.eyeonpalin.org launched, Palin's administration and the Board of Game she appoints have approved, among many things, the use of helicopters by private hunters to shoot wolves and the use of poison gas to kill wolves and their pups in their dens.

The idea of using an aircraft to chase an animal to the point of exhaustion, so that it becomes an easy target for “sport” hunters, is nothing less than a small and cowardly act. The objective of Palin’s predator hunting policy is to reduce the wolf population, in order to increase the “harvestable” numbers of moose and caribou, for the state’s lucrative trophy hunting season. The pretext of predator control to save wildlife is disingenuous, because the biological concept of nature-in-balance does not include airplanes or helicopters.

The aerial wolf killing policy was voted down twice before by Alaskans, in 1996 and 2000, but it was over turned by the legislation. In 2008, the Palin administration spent $400,000 of state money to promote the passing of Measure 2, to allow aerial wolf population control.

Last fall, in a highly publicized exchange between activist and actor Ashley Judd, (spokes person for Defenders of Wildlife), and Sarah Palin, Judd was quoted as saying:

“Palin even proposed a $150 bounty for the severed foreleg of each killed wolf. And now she is encouraging even more aerial killing. It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery."

Palin fired back in a media press release to chastize Defenders for using such poor fundraising tactics, but did not deny the proposal of paying a bounty to any person willing to mutilate a dead animal for $150 bucks.

The governor also filed a law suit last year to fight the polar bear endangered species listing, and recently threatened to do the same on the effort to list the Cooks Inlet beluga whales.

DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Governor Palin, like many Alaskans, has shown her willingness to trade the state’s precious wilderness for the money that oil brings to the official coiffures. Each and every resident of Alaska receives an annual check from oil revenues. Sarah Palin may rail at “outsiders” who criticize and don’t understand Alaska, but the fact is, Alaskans have a self-serving motivation to support more oil drilling, because it impacts their pocket books.

However, not all residents of Alaska are willing to pay homage to Big Oil, and turn their backs on their land, their traditions, and the state’s abundant natural treasures. In addition to wildlife organizations, there are some Alaskan residents, who have formed their own Palin watch dog web sites. The objective is to have some control and influence over a government, that is isolated by geography, that believes it knows what’s best for Alaska, and the rest of the country should mind their own business.

After John McCain’s shocking choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate last year, she convinced him to support drilling in ANWR. But, the idea that oil wells can be installed in sensitive caribou breeding areas, with a small “footprint”, is fantasy-speak for saying that roads, buildings, noise, aircraft, and over-ground pipeline installations would have little affect on the wildlife and wilderness.

BUSH vs. PALIN ON ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

Alaska is home to an amazingly diverse population of birds, wildlife, incredible snow-capped mountains, emerald-tipped glaciers, sparkling lakes and rivers, and acres of vast pristine wilderness unlike anywhere else on the planet. Yet, the state is run by a dictatorial governor, who often ignores the recommendation of her own scientists or the voice of her own people, in the constant quest for economic gain at the sacrifice of Alaska’s vast natural resources.

Sarah Palin is, indeed, worse than George W. Bush on the environment and wildlife. Her motto on the environment is “Drill, baby, drill” and her motto on wildlife is “kill, baby, kill”.

President Bush’s environmental/wildlife record was the worst of any president in history, but he never once proposed cutting the foot off a dead wolf in order to collect a bounty. It was a gruesome idea, which speaks volumes for the kind of cold-hearted mentality that could conjure up such a morbid proposal.

On that single suggestion alone, Sarah Palin earns the disgraceful number one spot for environmental and wildlife exploitation.

Palin's Alaskan wolf control policies not supported by science

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For photo credit run cursor over photograph * Copyright Jean Williams 2009 * This author also writes under the pen name of DelilahStarling  ***  facebook.com/DelilahStarling               Contact creatinggreenpiece@juno.com