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Check out the comment section where SME provides a clip of Palin speaking about Obama’s Energy plan for Alaska! Palin said nice things about Obama then. Funny thing is this is the first time I have EVER heard Palin saying something positive about Obama. That was before her nomination! Thanks SME!!!!!!
UPDATE: Jenny sent this link and you will see that Palin clearly supported Obama BEFORE she was tapped by McCain.
Given the post today, it is appropriate to realize how utterly clueless Palin is about energy. She believes that is her place to criticize the President on his “failed energy policy.” In Palin’s Facebook post she says:
FLASHBACK: What We Were Saying One Year Ago About Obama’s Failed Energy Policy
by Sarah Palin on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 10:44am
I have always been in favor of an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy independence, but “all-of-the-above” means conventional resource development too. It means a coherent, practical, and forward-looking energy policy. I wish the President would understand this. The good news is there is nothing wrong with America’s energy policy that another good old-fashion election can’t solve. 2012 is just around the corner.
- Sarah Palin
Palin isn’t smart enough to realize how foolish she looks in criticizing anyone about energy policy. She looks even more foolish and arrogant to criticize the President of the United States when she is only a celebrity, quit her job as the Governor, and quit her job on the Oil & Gas Commission after less than one year. Perhaps before she criticizes anyone else for their position on energy she should expend some of her own energy on educating herself.
John McCain repeatedly promoted Sarah Palin by saying:”She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America,”
Palin herself called energy her “AREA OF EXPERTISE.” Consider what might make energy her “area of expertise.”
EDUCATION
Palin has no education that would in anyway prepare her to be knowledgeable about energy. Her degree is in Broadcast Journalism. Thus her expertise based on education could only be that she is prepared to talk about how expert she is in energy, and nothing more.
EXPERIENCE
Palin’s only experience that related to energy was service on the Oil and Gas Commission. Palin was appointed to this commission as the ETHICS chairperson by Governor Murkowski who faced intense criticism for the appointment. Some called it a “patronage appointment.” There was no indication that there was any expectation that Palin could or would add any energy expertise. She resigned from this position less than one year after the appointment, saying:“it was more than I bargained for in terms of what this job is.”
Given Palin’s later ethics violations in the Troopergate matter, it seems the only thing she learned about “ethics” while on the commission, was how to behave in an unethical way.
INVOLVEMENT WITH ENERGY MATTERS WHILE GOVERNOR
Throughout the campaign Palin insisted that she was an expert on energy. In the V.P debate she insisted that it was her experience in energy that would help the US move towards energy independence.
Palin implied that her most successful drilling project was well underway in Alaska. “And we’re building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline,” Palin said, “which is North America’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets.”
The only problem with these statements is that they were lies. In fact it was known at the time that the pipeline was at least 10 years away from completion. In fact, there is no $40 billion dollar pipeline from Alaska bringing natural gas to the lower 48 states. As the New York Times explained, “the pipeline exists only on paper”.More than two years after Palin claimed responsibility for this incredible accomplishment, the first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.
Sarah Palin asked Alaskans to pray for the pipeline to be built, so perhaps that’s what McCain and Palin meant when they advertised that “work has begun on a $40 billion natural gas pipeline.” Praying is always hard work. As recently as March of 2011, it has been reported that:
“Today there are huge amounts of LNG being sold in Asia, as well as Australia. There doesn’t seem to be room for Alaska LNG, a fact illustrated by ConocoPhillips’ inability to sell even small quantities of liquefied gas from its existing Kenai LNG plant. The plant’s owners, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil, decided to close the plant earlier this year.
b. ACES – Program to Increase Taxes on Energy Companies
Under Palin’s guidance, and with the benefit of her “expertise” in the Oil and Gas industry, Palin was responsible for institution of the “ ACES” program. The “Alaska Clear and Equitable Share” program was in effect a program to increase taxes on oil companies doing business in Alaska. Under this program oil companies in Alaska would pay more money in taxes than ever before. The state’s oil and gas tax revenues for fiscal 2007 topped $10 billion. That was twice as much as fiscal 2006 and four times more than 2004.
By spring of 2008, the ACES program coupled with the high gas prices resulted in a state budget surplus, but Alaskans were also experiencing higher energy bills and gas prices at the pump. Palin’s response to the high cost of gas was to distribute $1,200 checks to all Alaskans, on top of the $2,000 they received as their annual oil revenue payment. Palin appointed her close friend, Deborah Richter, to head the division that distributes the earnings from a pot of money worth about $40 billion. Richter had one year of college experience.
“It’s a one-time, special return of the vast wealth that Alaska has right now. We’re returning it to the resource owners, the people of Alaska,” Palin said in June of 2008. “I am confident the people of Alaska can spend the surplus dollars better than state government is going to spend them.”
The money was distributed to everyone, regardless of income — even children. The Anchorage Daily News editorial board criticized the plan for not targeting residents who needed the most help, including the elderly and those living in rural communities. The board argued the $741 million would be better spent on a renewable energy project, like a local hydropower plant that was recently proposed. You want to incentivize people as much as possible to conserve, … there’s been less thought given to that than to sort of quick fixes, throwing money at the problem.
Palin also suspended an 8-cent state gas for a year at the same time the rebate program was approved.
Now the impact of the ACES program for Alaska is becoming clear. A recent study by Commonwealth North supports the idea that the current law, Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share, does not encourage oil companies to reinvest in the state. ACES has decreased Alaska’s competitiveness in the U.S. and around the world. Oil companies are just like any business: Their shareholders demand a competitive return on their investment. The amount of oil running through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline declines more every year. There are fewer exploration wells than in previous years, despite the fact that oil prices are high.
Lawmakers now are being forced to consider Alaska’s long-term prospects. They must make some viable changes to ACES to entice oil companies to continue working in Alaska, even if Alaskans have to give up a piece of Alaska’s “fair share.” Governor Sean Parnell, the Republican who took over when Palin resigned, has helped sponsor HB 110 along with the Alaska House Rules Committee, which proposes modification of key provisions of Palin’s ACES program. The proposed bill would restore Alaska’s competitiveness by lowering production taxes and boosting incentives for companies. Industry supports Parnell’s bill.
Today we can clearly evaluate the real “expertise” of Sarah Palin. It is not in Energy. Her expertise seems to be in the area of increasing her personal wealth, at the expense of everyone else. She had no education or experience in energy development. The pipeline that she took credit for is non-existent. The ACES program which she instituted predictably resulted in the decline of the willingness of Oil and Gas companies to pursue further development of Alaska’s resources because the tax consequences were so unfavorable. Perhaps her resignation from the position of Governor was a blessing to the citizens of Alaska who were fooled into thinking that she was an expert at anything other than increasing her personal wealth.
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