L.A. Times analysis: Palin has put drilling above the environment

Palin, who was chosen Friday as presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate, favored increased oil and gas drilling in sensitive lands and waterways, opposed federal action to list the polar bear as a species threatened with extinction, and supports a controversial program to allow aerial shooting of wolves and bears as a means of predator control.

Alaskan natural resources have long served as a larder for the Lower 48. The state's vast gold deposits sparked a 19th century rush akin to California's, and when the trans-Alaska pipeline was completed in 1977 it supplied 20 percent of the country's oil. Alaskan waters today support a powerhouse fishing industry.

In her two years in office, Palin has given every indication that she intends to continue stocking the larder. She favors the construction of one of the world's largest mining complexes at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, home to the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery. Palin opposes greater protections for beluga whales found in the Cook Inlet, where oil and gas drilling and other development are proposed. And unlike her running mate, Palin favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a recurring issue of debate during the Bush administration.

"She's continued the extractive political ideology that has defined Alaska for decades," said Rick Steiner, a marine biologist at the University of Alaska.

Palin also has provided glimpses of an independent streak. Last year she tinkered with the state Petroleum Profits Tax, an oil tax structure that Palin said contained loopholes that allowed oil and gas companies to avoid paying a fair share to the state. The Alaska Oil and Gas Association criticized the plan, which it says equates to a $700-million tax hike on the oil industry.

Palin eventually said no to the infamous "bridge to nowhere," the $398 million Gravina Island Bridge project that was highlighted as quintessential pork-barrel spending of federal tax money. She also jump-started a natural gas pipeline project that many of her predecessors had failed to get off the ground. The pipeline would deliver "stranded gas" that is a byproduct of crude oil pumping on Alaska's North Slope to Alberta, Canada. To get the deal done, Palin put up $500 million in state money to help a company, TransCanada, research the potential for the 1,700-mile pipeline, which could cost as much as $30 billion.

Described as the holy grail of Alaskan politics, the pipeline was a political coup for Palin.

"There's a long history of trying to get this pipeline in place," said Steve Colt, director of the University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research. "Alaska has always been a storehouse of resources. But sometimes it's extremely expensive to get the storehouse to open and move the resources to market."

Palin has stood up to the federal government, a politically popular posture in Alaska. In May, the state gave notice that it would sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent the inclusion of the polar bear on the endangered species list as "threatened" as a consequence of shrinking Arctic ice caused by global warming.

Such a listing could be used to block drilling in the Arctic, which Palin supports.

Palin told federal officials that the state did a "comprehensive review" of the science and found no reason to support a listing. But an internal e-mail message from the head of the state Department of Fish and Game's marine mammals program and two other staff biologists agreed with the Department of Interior's conclusions that the science justified the listing. Palin did not publicly release the state's report.

"The governor's decision was clearly based on politics, not on science, and was primarily designed to protect the oil and gas industry stampede into the Arctic Ocean," said Steiner, the University of Alaska marine biologist. "It's very troubling that any public official would ignore science in favor of politics."

Although Palin's state has benefited from the oil industry -- its budget is billions in the black -- its consumers have suffered rising fuel prices. Palin this summer announced a "resource rebate" of $1,200 to every citizen of the state, which she said would offset the costs of gasoline and heating fuel. Added to the $2,000 every Alaskan receives each year from a permanent fund from oil and gas producers, the checks bring the windfall for a family of four to $12,800.