McCain-Palin threatens to take America back to the 19th century when it comes to the environment. Their combined lack of talent for complex thinking and shared ideological grasp of global and domestic forces is simply staggering in the potential for harm. Whether McCain opposes ANWAR today is irrelevant since it seems that he is ready to surrender all (except his war drums) in his desperate last ditch effort for the big prize.
Alaskan professor Rick Steiner, weighed in this week in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the potential impact of the election on the environment. Steiner is noteable as one of the first people on the scene at Exxon Valdez oil spill and a marine conservationist.
The pattern is clear. On the environment, Sarah Palin is essentially George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and perhaps James Watt rolled into one, but with a more pleasant demeanor.
For those who don't remember westerner James Watt, a secretary of interior under Reagan, and Christian remains a potent symbol of ruthlessness towards environmental concern--""We will mine more, drill more, cut more timber." The Audobon Society labeled him "the most anti-environment secretary ever." He was eventually forced out of office, not for his environmental stance but insensitive remarks towards women, people of color and the handicapped.
If Palin is a latter day Watt, we better tie down the trees.
The concerned Alaskan professor points out that Palin, like McCain, has a habit of comfortably skating between positions as it is politically expedient, regardless of its environmental impact.
Palin clearly decided to oppose the listing (to place polar bears in the endangered list) in order to protect Arctic oil and gas development, then publicly misrepresented the basis for her decision, and then tried to conceal all of that. Having run for office on a platform of honesty and transparency, this behavior was neither. Her extreme position here puts her to the political right of the Bush/Cheney administration.
While bathing in the recent spotlight as the latest maverick, the creationist pit bull is actually flashing her teeth in favor of special interests and big oil behind the scenes while chewing up natural resources at will.
On her watch, regulation and government oversight of Alaska oil facilities is terribly lacking, and she has declined to establish a citizens' advisory council to provide more effective public oversight of the expanding oil and gas operations in Arctic Alaska.
I hope the actual record of Palin's environmental abuses overtakes the white noise of lies soon. We must demand more than backwoods jokes and tall tales to solve important issues like climate change and resource management.