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.

>>More on energy independence at RG&B

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.

Tweet This Post