We don’t need to tell you that little is known about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin – except perhaps from those in the grand State of Alaska – since she arrived on the national political scene last Friday. But as the press furiously begins to scrutinize her political (and personal) history, we thought we’d join the hunt and see what we could find regarding her attitudes and actions regarding renewable energy.
In her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin made clear that she views Alaska’s untapped reservoirs of natural gas and oil as a key component toward moving the USA toward greater energy independence. She strongly supports opening access to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drill for oil.
Just days before Palin’s catapult onto the national stage, she sat for an interview on CNBC’s Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo where she argued her case for opening ANWR. Palin compared the size of ANWR to less than the acreage of the Los Angeles Airport, a mere “postage stamp” compared to the entire size of the northern coastal plain of Alaska. Palin asserted that “more and more Americans are recognizing it’s time to ramp up America’s supply of energy” and it is naïve to not tap into Alaska’s “vast energy fields.” Palin does recognize Alaska has potential to develop renewable energy sources, such as wind and tidal energy resources, but most of her energy argument focused on taking full advantage of Alaska’s oil reserves.
During her tenure as Alaska’s Governor (Palin has held office for less than two years), she has made headway to advance her energy initiatives. For example, on August 27 (again days before her VP nomination) Palin made news for signing a bill that awarded an Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) license to TranCanada Alaska to begin developing a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to its Alberta Hub in Canada. In the press release Governor Palin praises the legislation because it “brings us [Alaska] closer than we’ve ever been to building a gas pipeline and finally accessing our gas that has been languishing for so many decades on the North Slope.”
To her credit, she is not exclusively focused on oil and gas. She has supported other forms of energy development too. Cooler Planet previously reported on a bill Governor Palin signed in May 2008 that authorized $250 million to be invested primarily into wind power projects over the next five years.
A statewide renewable energy policy has yet to emerge. Yes there are private initiatives and local jurisdictions that are investing in solar and other types of renewable energy projects, but unlike other states that made Home Power magazine’s Top Ten list, the State of Alaska has yet to establish a comprehensive initiative.
Unlike John McCain, Sarah Palin dismisses the idea humans contribute to climate change and global warming though not at the expense of taking no-action. In an interview for the September issue of the conservative magazine Newsmax, reporter Mike Coppock asked Palin to explain her views on global warming and how it is affecting our country. Palin replied, “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”
Her acknowledgement of climate change prompted Palin to create a Climate Change Subcabinet. The Subcabinet, established last year (September 14, 2007 to be exact) is still in process drafting its blueprint.
Palin has been Alaska’s Governor for less than two years. (Prior to that, she was mayor of Wasilla, AK – from 1996 to 2002 – and then chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission from 2003 to 2004, a quasi-judicial agency responsible for overseeing oil and gas drilling within the state.) Palin’s rhetoric, as governor, suggests that she likes projects that “get results.” Twenty months is insufficient time to measure her track record but Palin’s actions suggest a continuation of current energy policy not one that is focused on a renewable energy agenda.
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Want to learn more about Sarah? A new book is to be released mid-October. http://sarahtakesonbigoil.com/