Palin's Folly
To kick off her new career as a pundit, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has chosen to train her critical eyes on the climate change legislation under consideration in Congress. Unfortunately, instead of sharing new thinking, insights or ideas, Gov. Palin's punditry is nothing more than a rehash of the party line.
Palin's column does not even mention "climate change" or "renewable energy"! Instead, she frames the issue entirely as a question of how best to achieve energy independence and security. President Obama's "cap-and-trade energy tax" is the wrong approach, she says, because it makes "energy scarcer and more expensive." A better approach to energy independence, she says, would be...say it with me...drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (She's also comfortable with mining more coal.)
Palin's plan would make even Senator Inhofe blush. Let me point out the obvious: the primary goal of cap-and-trade is to reduce emission of greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you must in part place the economy on a trajectory of decreasing reliance on fossil fuels and increasing use of low carbon alternatives (including nuclear as far as I am concerned).
Energy independence is certainly desirable, and reducing import of foreign oil will go a long way toward its achievement. But substituting American oil for foreign oil is not sustainable - unless you don't believe that climate change is occurring. I guess we now know where Gov. Palin stands on climate change.
