September 10th, 2008 · No Comments

Biden: Supported placing polar bears under federal protection, and, according to Project Vote Smart, has voted in support of legislation favoring animal rights, on average more than 85 percent of the time since 1993.

Palin: Is pushing for open-cast and strip coal mining throughout Alaska, but one area that’s created particular rancor is the threatened-wildlife habitat around the Chuitna River, 45 miles west of Anchorage. If allowed, the PacRim Coal-built mine would go directly on top of a salmon-bearing tributary and in the heart of the Chuitna watershed. The Chuitna Citizens NO-COALition is suing to try to stop the move. The proposed mine on the west side of Cook Inlet would extract up to 300 million metric tons of sub-bituminous coal (equivalent to a million barrels of oil) over 25 years. According to several sources, including commerical fishermen, the Chuitna River watershed is home to all five wild Pacific salmon species. Critics also are worried about the mine’s effect on drinking water in the area. In a story last spring in the Anchorage Daily News, the NO-COALition claimed the mine would negatively impact more than 55 square miles of wildlife and fish.

Biden: Has opposed coal mining in the U.S. but also has cited exceptions when it comes to exporting. Last year, the Senator told a joint panel from Outside magazine and Grist, “I don’t think there’s much of a role for clean coal in energy independence, but I do think there’s a significant role for clean coal in the bigger picture of climate change. Clean-coal technology is not the route to go in the United States, because we have other, cleaner alternatives. But I would invest a considerable amount of money in research and development of clean-coal and carbon-sequestration technologies for export.”

Palin: Supports allowing the dumping of oil and gas by-products into Cook Inlet in Alaska, despite opposition from Alaskan tribal leaders, as well as Riverkeeper founder Robert Kennedy Jr.

Last year, Palin green-lighted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to renew permits for Chevron Oil, allowing the company to continue “discharging” oil and gas byproducts into the inlet’s fisheries. The permits are issued every five years – supposedly to allow groups and the EPA to monitor and adjust how much companies can dump. According to Alaska’s Cook Inletkeeper, “the EPA’s new permit will nearly triple the amount of toxic dumping in Cook Inlet compared to the previous permit, with industry authorized to discharge approximately 100,000 gallons of oil and over 835,000 pounds of toxic metals each year.” The Inletkeeper has filed a lawsuit against the EPA, contesting the permits.

Biden: Not applicable.

Palin: Opposed the Alaska Clean Water Act (Ballot Measure 4, which failed recently), which would have placed strong restrictions on practices and waste disposal at planned gold and copper mines at a site known as Pebble Mine. Proponents wanted the protections to prevent the potential poisoning of salmon streams and nearby Bristol Bay, where millions of wild salmon are caught every year. Even the conservative Juneau Empire favored the ballot initiative.

Questions linger about whether Palin acted inappropriately in encouraging a “No” vote on the proposition, because the law forbids elected officials from publicly commenting on such citizen ballot initiatives. She famously came out against the measure saying: “Let me take my governor’s hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop 4, I vote no on that.”

Alaska Public Radio reported on Palin’s influence and the failure of the initiative, noting that most fishing communities had voted for it, revealing support for the measure among those in Alaska who depend on clean water.

Gourmet magazine, concerned about the potential harm to the salmon (on plates everywhere), pointed out in a short opinion piece that Alaska’s fishing industry employs more people than the mine would, and is a sustainable industry, making the vote against Prop. 4 counterintuitive; against Alaska’s best economic interests.

To read more about the Pebble Mine project, see a story by Alaskan environmental writer Bill Sherwonit in Yale’s Environment360.

Biden: Voted for or co-sponsored numerous bills protecting water, air quality and the environment in general. Last year, he commented to Vote USA, which posed eco questions to the then-Presidential candidate: “We should not have to worry that a grandfather taking his grandchild to a favorite fishing hole is exposing her to dioxin contamination; or that when students turn on a faucet at school, they swallow arsenic; or that acid rain is showering us – especially when corporate responsibility could prevent it.”

Palin: Doesn’t believe humans or their inventions contribute to climate change, according to several reports.

Biden: Supports an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, federally mandated 40 miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency standards by 2017; wants the U.S. to be producing 20 percent renewable energy by 2020; and wants to repeal the oil giants’ $2 billion tax breaks and use the money for offshore wind farms and development. In his personal life, Biden has relied on public transportation for years, commuting on Amtrak between his home in Delaware and Washington.

(Photo of Palin credit: Ginos Photos/dreamstime.com; Photo of Biden: U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden website.)

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