Palin Ignored Chance to Promote US Energy Independence
As Governor, Sarah Palin has successfully maintained Alaska’s energy independence, but at the same time, she has essentially ignored the mainland’s energy concerns.
Time Magazine reports that as Governor, Palin supported the direct export of enough clean natural gas to supply 1.4 million Americans for two years.
In early 2007, an Alaskan liquefied natural gas plant owned by Marathon Oil and ConocoPhillips requested Department of Energy permission to export some of the fuel. Palin entered the discussion in April, but only to ensure that Alaska’s natural gas needs would be included in the deal.
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An agreement was reached in January this year, and never once did Palin suggest that the natural gas should instead be used in the lower 48 states. Instead, 100 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas will be exported from Alaska’s Cook Inlet to Japan and other Asian countries, where the fuel sells for double what it does in America.
But this is business as usual for Alaskan natural gas: the West Coast did not have a facility to store liquefied natural gas until May 2007 when a nearly-$1 billion plant was completed along the Baja coast of Mexico. The plant is connected to the CNG pipelines that run throughout the western United States.
The project was well-known and anticipated by the energy industry, but Palin—“one of the foremost experts in this nation on energy issues”—never considered the plant as a possible destination for Alaska’s gas.
The idea that Palin is an energy expert was laughable already, but this decision showed a brash disregard for American energy independence, a cause which she champions nearly every day on the campaign trail.
Photo Credit: Bobster1985 on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Here is the deal. Work with the U.S., not against it. Hasn’t anyone heard of the Pickens plan? He has been all over Washington. We need to start seriously using natural gas to replace some of our dependancy on oil. Wake up America. As for Palin, she has a nice face but that’s it. She is way out of her league, she was just found guilty of abuse of power, let’s face it. If as a Govenor we can’t trust her to do her job correctly why give her a key to Washington?
To those who say we need to give Palin a break and get over the media that haters her and that we (”Palin haters”) believe everything we see and read in the media: Wake up!!!! Please!!!!!
It’s true that there is a lot of trash in the media and that you cannot believe everything you see and hear in print and on TV. However, we must get our news from somewhere and we must get it from a variety of places to avoid biased reports. Palin can’t name a single place she gets her news from. When asked which publications she reads, she responded “all of them.” When Couric pressed her for specifics, she said “whatever is put in front of me.”
At least I can specify that I read Paul Krugman, Andrew Sullivan, Noam Chompsky, Bob Woodward, Fareed Zakaria, and that I watch MSNBC and CNN regularly. Anderson Cooper, Larry King, Keith Olberman, Tim Russert - rest in piece - and sadly, I also watch Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity - I like getting pissed off and throwing things at my TV, haha. I also watch Bill Maaher who has a littany of Democratic and Rublican guests, and I also read MANY MANY websites like this one. I listen to the words and opinions of many congressmen and congresswomen in both print and on the broadcast news. I don’t believe that you can tell me that I am ill informed, believe everything that I read and see, and that I have been fooled into disliking Palin as a candidate by a media that is out to get her.
I believe that I have made an informed choice. A choice on which I based research and countless hours watching her work her mojo on the political scene. I think that she is a good person but I believe that she is incredibly misguided. I agree with the person who said that all candidates are scary. Change is scary, etc. However, Palin is scary and unqualified. I rather vote for someone who is scary and qualified. In addition, Obama is not a muslim. And so what if he was? Not every Muslim is a bomber. Muslim does not equal bad. Mormon = bad. Haha, just kidding, Mormons. But seriously, as long as the president believes in separating church and state, I don’t care what religion he/she is. I’d just like to see a president that puts his/her religion aside and does not incorporate it into a system that is supposed to guarantee separation of church and state (Palin wants creationism to be taught in schools).
If you are scared of all the candidates, then at least vote for the ones that are scary AND intelligent. We can’t have another 8 years of Bush-onomics. Really, we can’t. We’ll be a third world nation by the time that’s over.
Now that McCain’s princess fairy is about to enter her “meanopause” what changes can we expect? How about a natural look, you know. no hair dye, less war-paint, shorter hair, grayer hair, normal sized body bumps in the appropriate places for a girl of 40+, contacts instead of ‘ole timey’ glasses, and a new lower more listenable voice in place of the shrill, hormone howl we get now? And to be fair to him, how about printing up a manual on how to deal with menopausal American women for Putin, and other world leaders for that matter?
Mark Cathcart.
The Saudi Royal family are members of the Islamic Faith
President Bush is a close friend to the Saudi Royal family.
What then (in your little mind) does that make President Bush?
… a “Muslim sympathizer” perhaps?
If McCain/Palin win the election, do you not think they won’t become close friends of the Saudi’s as well?
Its labels like “Muslim sympathizer” from the fear-mongering right that will cause
independent and swing voters to turn away from the same old BS from the GOP.
Common Guys,
The issue here is not about Obama as Mark is pointing out. What is wrong with a black man being at the White House? As much as you call Obama a Muslim or whatever other name you can come up with, the fact reamins that He is by far the better candidate for the Job!! The school of thought that Mark is advocating for belongs to the old ideologies that this world is trying to get rid of.
For Palin not to support Alaska’s Energy Independence just puts alot of questions on their agenda in the white house. As we are looking fdor alternative energy source to curb the ever increasing Oil prices, someone or some people seem more than eager to continue yorking the ever vulnerable people to the slavery of Oil
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