Palin: Don't Save the Whales
| Fri Jan. 23, 2009 7:28 AM PST
As a fierce high school basketball player, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was dubbed "Sarah Barracuda," a nickname that was revived on the campaign trail last year, when she served as John McCain's enforcer. Now the "Barracuda" is picking a fight with one of the biggest mammals in the sea.
Last week, the state of Alaska announced it plans to mount a legal challenge to the listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whale under the Endangered Species Act. (Placing the belugas on the endangered list requires a review of federally funded or permitted activities that could affect the health of the whales, the establishment of a recovery plan, and the designation of "critical habitat.") This marks the second time in a year that Palin's administration has squared off with the federal government over an ESA listing. Over the summer, her administration sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne after his agency conferred threatened status on the polar bear.
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In 1994, there were some 650 Cook Inlet belugas living off the coast of Anchorage, but their numbers were nearly halved by 1997. This sharp decline was largely attributed to overharvesting by Native hunters, and by 2005 this already small whale population reached an all-time low of 278, by one government estimate. Presently, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimate the number of Cook Inlet belugas at 375.
In 2000, the whales were protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but government scientists eventually concluded that this wasn't enough. "In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering," James Balsiger, the acting assistant administrator for the NOAA's Fisheries Service, said in October, announcing that the whales had received endangered species protection.
Palin begs to differ. Her administration argues that that the belugas are faring just fine under the protections in place, and the population is even beginning to show signs of recovering. For this reason, the state of Alaska contends that additional regulation is unnecessary. "The State of Alaska has worked cooperatively with the federal government to protect and conserve beluga whales in Cook Inlet," Palin said last week. "This listing decision didn't take those efforts into account as required by law."
At the heart of Palin's objections are concerns that additional safeguards will interfere with oil and gas development, among other lucrative projects. "I am especially concerned that an unnecessary federal listing and designation of critical habitat would do serious long-term damage to the vibrant economy of the Cook Inlet area," Palin said in 2007. Similar fears led Palin's administration to launch a legal challenge in August to the listing of polar bears as a threatened species. (And it was no surprise when a host of business groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, followed her lead. The cases have have been consolidated, and the litigation is ongoing.)
Objecting to ESA protections on economic grounds is one thing, but Palin's team has in the past sought to cast doubt on the science underlying the listings. Fighting back against efforts to list the polar bear, for instance, her administration cited the work of global warming skeptics, one of whom acknowledged receiving funding from the American Petroleum Institute and ExxonMobil for his work.
In this latest legal challenge, Palin's administration has attacked the accuracy of beluga population estimates, citing the "questionable use of computer population modeling." And it has challenged "the contention that the belugas in Cook Inlet are a separate and distinct population from other belugas." Meanwhile, the state's claim that Cook Inlet beluga's are recovering is at odds with the judgments of federal scientists, whose "systematic surveys," according to the whale's ESA listing [PDF], "indicate this population is not recovering."
In September, the Center for Biological Diversity, which waged a decade long fight to win protection for the Cook Inlet beluga and petitioned to secure ESA safeguards for the polar bear, awarded Palin with its "2008 Rubber Dodo Award"—given annually to those the organization deems a threat to imperiled plants and animals. "Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear," said the organization's executive director, Kieran Suckling, at the time. "Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee." He added: "Palin's insistence that Arctic melting is 'uncertain' is like someone debating the theory of gravity as they plunge off a cliff. It's hopeless, reckless, and extremely cynical."
Her latest ESA attack has drawn more sharp words from the group, and other conservation organizations, which are watching Palin's next moves closely. Brendan Cummings, the Center for Biological Diversity's oceans program director, tells me that he expects Palin to go forward with her suit in March, once the clock runs out on the 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue [PDF] filed by her administration. "We will move to intervene in the court case to defend the listing rule," he says. "As a purely legal matter, and as a question of sound science, Palin's challenges (both beluga and polar bear) have no merit. But we have to treat any lawsuit as a serious threat." Cummings accuses Palin of being "willing to sacrifice endangered whales on the alter of oil company profits." The Barracuda, he contends, "must be suffering from an Ahab complex."
Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Comments
Submitted by Austin Smith (not verified) on Fri Jan. 23, 2009 11:14 AM PST.
I would like to know what Palin has against saving animals. I'm glad she is not in office, I would be making tracks for the Yukon. At least I wouldn't have to worry about polar bears..
Submitted by elemental jim (not verified) on Fri Jan. 23, 2009 11:28 AM PST.
I wish Karma would pay this fundie twit a visit and have her fall out of the helicopter when she's hunting wolves and drown in an oil spill.
That would be something.
There is no doubt, this woman is dangerous! The Republicans have much to be ashamed of with the likes of sarah-six-pack and her twisted 'thinking'! One thing is for sure...she truly is a chilling reflection of their party. How frightening.
The reason for the decline in the whale's population is the sewage runoff from Anchorage that's chucked into Cook Inlet, as well as the excess pollution that Palin allowed (pushed for by law) Exxon to also dump into the waters there. It's pollution that's doing the damage, a fact this inhuman being knows full well. For someone who mouths off about the sanctity of life, it amazes me how little concern she shows for other sentient beings.
She's despicable, inhumane, and a total twit. No wonder the right wing loves her so.
It's impossible to tell whether she is ignorant, stupid, or indifferent. So I'll assume that she is a "triple threat".
Among the many problems with people as breathtakingly ignorant as she is, she fails to realize the economic and cultural devastation that can occur when there are so few of these animals left that _no_ industry can be supported by their exploitation. It truly pays to preserve these animals as well as polar bears. Does it pay to preserve Sarah Palin?
Submitted by kazanis (not verified) on Fri Jan. 23, 2009 12:34 PM PST.
Hey Larry: Remember when
Wordy used to call you the
Beluga whale? Now the stupid
cunt wants to kill them.
Greek
Palin is not against animals. She is against anything that might diminish tax income to the state.
If an animal must die to keep those dollars coming in, so be it. You can't spend bears or whales but dollars are nice liquid assets that can be shifted to your friends' pockets.
I wish our political leaders would spend their efforts bringing in new industries to provide tax revenue to replace revenue that might be lost by reduced dependence on oil and coal. A real leader would make it easier for their population to train for the new industry so people could transition to new jobs. This way, no one would need to cling so tightly to ecologically and environmentally unsound plans.
The results of the election show there are fewer stupid people like Palin and her clan. We should continue to watch them, as their numbers diminish they become more rabid, study them, monitor their destructive actions. And when through education and legislation they are controlled and their numbers drop we will deny them ESA protection and watch their line fade from the gene pool.
Only in Alaska could an ignorant, regressive, greedy, environmental-hating person like Sarah Palin become president.
Because of its isolation and small population, there really isn't much of a pick, and there are a lot of people who are hired for positions they're not qualified for.
I grew up in Alaska.
THE PALIN BUNCH
(sung to the them of "The Brady Bunch")
Here's the story of a gal named Sarah
Who was the Governor of State number 49.
Then John McCain came lookin' for a V.P.
And that sounded just fine.
Here's the story of Todd the First Dude
He had a D.U.I. and drove a snow machine.
He couldn't count to ten on his fingers
With just his G.E.D.
The election didn't go the way they planned it
Our girl Sarah couldn't handle interviews.
The media exposed her dearth of knowledge
Except for Fox News and that blonde chick from The View.
The Palin Bunch, the Palin Bunch
That's the way they became the Palin Bunch.
The crazy bi*tch wants to be president. She is too stupid to know she's the stupidest person alive.
Gotta watch this one. "teamsarah" & the few palinbots out there are hoping she will make it...
Must watch her & make dang sure she doesn't sneak up on us like she already has.
I wonder how the Palin administration would know if the Beluga was recovering when they question the number of whales put out by the government as 375. What method are they using to determine that the Beluga is recovering ?
Submitted by Stylish Dog (not verified) on Sat Jan. 24, 2009 1:49 AM PST.
I guess we should all be very relieved that the damage that this woman can do to the world is limited to Alaska... but it would be better if she weren't in a position to reek damage there.
This is the trouble with voting ignorant people into positions of power - they're easily bought by rich oil interests.
Sara Palin should be ASHAMED of herself! I have been enraged about this ever since I first saw it!! What an awful, disgusting woman. From this, to telling me what to do with my body, to being a bigot, to not taking proper care of her teen daughter (my mom put me on birth control when i was 14, because i needed it, and in 6 years I have NEVER been pregnant, and NEVER want kids at all! If she loved Bristol as much as my mama loves me, that curse would have never befallen her young life! no teen should have a baby NEVER!) She is a nasty awful woman
I clearly stated my views about Sarah Palin in my article entitled: " A Political Charade" which can be read by going to www.alltheperspectives.com.
An Old Soldier
Submitted by Michael Levinson (not verified) on Sat Jan. 24, 2009 5:59 AM PST.
Her policies will defeat her in any national election. Those who oppose her - all of us - will recollect her position about the whales.
Every buddy the overwhelming mass of people love whales. People will not vote for a whale killer.
In all future stuff anybody says about her - always remark she is a whale killer.
To hear a whale song visit michaelslevinson dot commie scroll down to the first video window the whale song comes after the story of Adman and Even in the Gar Den ov Edum
The stopping of Native hunts did not result in recovery of the belugas. Growth of industry and resulting pollution runnof/spills is the likely culprit here, and Palin wants more of it. God will take care of the whales, I guess.
Not only does she not like Whales, she also want to remove protection for the polar bear and we all know her ongoing policy of bringing her the forepaws of wolves (does she have a privae collection?).
Thank God this anti-environmental extremeist is not the Vice President. Still she's doing enough damage just where she's at. People like her are a blight on the earth.
I hope they impeach her for all of her corruption charges.
Every one of you that responded to this post and drive a car, heat your homes with oil, or electricity, or consume energy whatsoever are first class hypocrites!
And to boot...wishing harm, bad karma, or whatever your lame brains euphamize it as says everythign for your tolerance of ideas.
hmmm. so this outside group did all the work to protect our beluga? what about our wonderful local groups - such as Cook Inletkeeper, Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Community Action on Toxics and Trustees for Alaska? CBD does great work but very disappointed at the shallow reporting here.
Submitted by Misanthropic Scott (not verified) on Sat Jan. 24, 2009 2:16 PM PST.
I, for one, am very glad to see that 42 out of 43 people posting here can tell an idiot when she runs for Vice President. I'm so glad not to have her in the back seat waiting for the walking dead to finally keel over.
After shooting intelligent, social, beautiful wolves from a chopper, it shouldn't surprise anyone that she wants to further the damage by killing off intelligent, beautiful marine mammals as well, both belugas and polar bears, and presumably any other pesky species that gets in the way of her plans.
Who cares how much biodiversity we can lose and still have a healthy biosphere? She just wants a quick profit today. If her grandchildren manage to have any brains at all, which seems unlikely given their genetic heritage, they will curse her memory all the days of their lives.
Isn't it illeagle to -
On e-bay no less
Wasilla Hillbillies selling clothes bought with campaign matching funds - Amazing http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270333037673&sspagena...
Governor Palin apparently cannot see the forest for the trees. We all need to think beyond our local and regional concerns and concentrate on how we can save this planet from ourselves. Thousands of species are dying out as we destroy their habitats. If, as the religious among us like to point out, we are the ones God has chosen to inherit the earth, we need to take care of it for our progeny.
I remember as a young man watching the herds of beluga swin through the Anchorage inlet... It was an beautiful thing to watch and it breaks my heart to hear that the numbers have declined so badly and that this "Governor" is so callous a person to think this way.
I pity our children and what they will be left.
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