Miss Wasilla promoted unchecked haphazard anti-environmental growth while serving as mayor

[Bluebear]

"It could have been such a nice city. We didn't have to grow this way. Now we're stuck with it."


WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Long before John McCain made Gov. Sarah Palin his running mate and before her views on global warming became a campaign issue, Palin's environmental priorities were crystallized in a city where she was mayor and where development long has trumped conservation.

Palin declared Wasilla "open for business," and business rushed in: Dozens of strip malls sprung up along the city's two glacial lakes.

The costs of such fast — and sometimes haphazard — growth can be seen even from Palin's lakefront home. Once-pristine Lake Lucille is plagued by high levels of phosphorous, which chokes off oxygen from the salmon and trout. Scientists put the blame on nearby development.

Palin refined her pro-business attitudes after becoming governor in 2006. Faced with choosing between development and the environment, she has sided more often than not with business interests:

_She helped kill a ballot initiative that would have blocked a massive new gold and copper mine from being built near the world's most productive wild salmon fishery.

_She challenged the listing of the polar bear and Cook Inlet beluga whale as endangered species. The listings might have threatened the state's oil and gas industry.

_Her administration helped kill a bill banning water pollution near where fish spawn.

_She started a committee to address global warming. But with oil companies contributing the largest percentage of the state's greenhouse gases, her committee set no goal for reducing emissions. Unlike other states, Alaska's climate change priority is focused on ways to adapt to warmer temperatures.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ju8oDo9DwCIYyiYvauIBpxhY2c0AD93TPA200