And no wonder….what an honor for our state. Not since Wally Hickle was appointed Secretary of the Interior has Alaska been so prominent in the national political spotlight.
What an opportunity for Governor Palin to represent the interests of Alaskans with regard especially to energy and Alaska’s ability to contribute the nations energy needs with drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In fact, in her very first national interview as Vice Presidential Candidate on the Republican Presidential Ticket, Governor Palin, in her usual very direct way, began telling it as it is.
ANWR is located in a barren region of Alaska and holds millions of barrels of oil plus huge amounts of natural gas. The amount of land in the millions of acres of ANWR needed for a drilling will leave a footprint that is very small, like “a postage stamp on a football field”, she said. Oil companies will drill with the latest state of the art equipment transported on ice roads which will leave no marks on the barren tundra.
She told the thousands of people listening to the interview that many against drilling for oil in ANWR argue that bringing that oil and gas to market, and lowering gas prices at the pump, will not happen for many years, but she told her audience it is important to start drilling now so that the oil and gas will be available as soon as possible. Obviously, the drilling should have started ten years ago, if not for an unrealistic congress, and the oil and gas would be available, at the pump, now. So, common sense says let’s not put off drilling for oil in ANWR any longer.
What a privilege it is to have our Governor Palin on the national stage so she can keep Alaska’s oil and gas potential constantly before an energy hungry nation, whose voters can bring the pressure needed on a reluctant Democratic Congress to open Alaska’s ANWR to drilling for oil and gas.
The addition of Sarah Palin to the Republican Presidential ticket as Vice President is certainly causing many who favored neither of the Presidential candidates to rethink their decision not to vote in the upcoming election in November. She has certainly put a lot of new air into what was beginning to appear as a deflating McCain election balloon.
John McCain is to be congratulated on selecting our Governor Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential running mate. It was a very smart thing to do.
And for Alaskans it is a win-win situation. The McCain/Palin combination have a great chance at winning the top two position in the land and even if the Republicans lose the presidential race in November, we still get our Governor back. You just can’t beat a deal like that.
Think About It! JCD 09-03-08
