McCain's controversial pick

30 Aug 2008, 12:25 pm   -   Source: AP
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US presidential candidate Senator John McCain's newly-announced running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming.(Getty Images)

US presidential candidate Senator John McCain's newly-announced running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming.(Getty Images)

Senator John McCain's newly-announced running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has questioned the climate change science.

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US presidential candidate Senator John McCain's newly-announced running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming.

She also favours drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Palin has also opposed a state initiative that would have banned metal mines from discharging pollution into salmon streams.

The Alaska governor has said that she has tried to persuade McCain to agree with her on drilling in the wildlife refuge.

She also has said that she was happy that he changed his position over the summer and now supports offshore oil drilling.

In oil-rich Alaska, most residents support Arctic Refuge drilling.

Polar bear campaign

Palin's environmental views could get more of an airing now that she has landed on the national stage.

Earlier this month, the state of Alaska under Palin's guidance sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in an attempt to reverse his decision to list polar bears as a threatened species.

Palin said that scientists' predictions that global warming will eliminate the ice where the bears live in summer were unreliable.

Arctic sea ice shrank to a record low by the end of last summer, and satellites now show that the ice has been reduced to a level very close to last year's with some days remaining before a new winter season begins.

The Anchorage Daily News reported in May that the head of the marine mammals program for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and two other marine mammal biologists on his staff agreed with nine studies the federal government cited to justify listing polar bears as a threatened species.

Their email appeared to contradict Palin's assertions that state wildlife officials had found no reason to list the bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Palin wrote in a January that she based her opposition to listing the bears on "a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts."

No emissions goals

Palin created a commission to plan for how the state will try to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and plan to adapt to warming, but she has not set emission reduction goals for Alaska.

"It's like asking somebody to construct a stadium without giving them a blueprint," said Kate Troll, the director of Alaska Conservation Voters.

Recently, Palin publicly said she would vote no on a state initiative that said no large metal mines would be permitted to pollute streams where salmon spawn.

The initiative was aimed at the Pebble mine near Bristol Bay, a major fishery.

Voters defeated it on Tuesday.

Palin hasn't made a definitive statement about the mine, but the initiative was targeted at it.

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