Monday, September 1, 2008

Oil Expert Palin Distorts Exxon "Valdez" Oil Spill


The Republican V.P. matriarch of a fertile Alaskan family, Sarah Palin spoke with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo recently. Maria came away impressed with Sarah's knowledge of energy. Did Ms. Bartiromo watch Palin's interview with Washington Journal this past February? Here are a few clips from that CSPAN interview (available under the heading: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Announces V.P. Pick Gov. Palin) :

Governor Palin (at the 4:00 minute mark): A drunken captain that ran the Exxon Valdez ship into Bligh Reef and spilled 11,000 gallons of fuel

(at the 7:04 minute point): You know the footprint that we're looking at, hopefully being able to drill in ANWR at some point, it's a 2,000 acre footprint. That's small. smaller than the footprint of say, LAX

(at the 12:20 minute mark): and then was appointed a commissioner at the Alaskan Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, regulating oil and gas.

Later in the interview, Sarah spoke to Captain Joseph Hazelwood's specific role in the Exxon Valdez spill. So why would an acclaimed energy expert miss the size of the spill by 10.79 million barrels? And why would she call the spill "fuel" vs. crude oil?

Was she purposefully minimizing the spill to encourage further tapping of Alaska's energy resources? If so, what does that say about her later statistic, the 2,000 acre footprint?

Sarah's "11,000 gallons of fuel" was 10.8 million gallons of crude and it fouled 11,000 square miles of ocean. While the world focuses on exactly when her water broke, it misses her misrepresentation of a major hull breach. Strange days, my friend....