Palin to Prof. Rick Stein - pay $486K for gov't polar bear study

[Waiting For Everyman]

Sarah and the Bears, or You Can't Just Let Polar Bears Keep Oil Companies From Running Wild

Progressive Alaska
January 13, 2008

(snip)

Why is it that something this important has to be gleaned from the Anchorage Daily News' Sunday Ear column? I'll quote Sheila Toomey's coverage of Steiner's situation in entirety:

Oil industry watchdog Rick Steiner recently submitted a Freedom of Information request to state Fish and Game for public records regarding the listing of polar bears as endangered. He wanted the records "to see how politics influenced their position to oppose the listing," Rick said in a note.

F&G Commissioner Denby Lloyd wrote back that the fee for what Rick wanted would be $468,784. Rick, a prof at UAA, said he's going to ask if they'll accept his IOU. Denby gently suggested Rick might want to narrow his search request. Rick not so gently suggested it was obstructionism by Palin, who has said publicly she doesn't think polar bears should be listed.

Rick Steiner is a genuine Alaska hero. He was an important figure in the Battle of Sawmill Bay during the Exxon Valdez catastrophe. Had more Cordova experts like Steiner, and fishermen like Tom Copland been heeded in the first 24 hours of the spill, the effects of Exxon's negligence would have been mitigated greatly. I dedicated a musical work about that oil spill, Shadows, to Steiner 15 years ago.

He's one of the most sought after experts in the world on oil spill response. A year and a half ago, the Lebanese government sought his advice on how to deal with the biggest oil spill in history in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Jiyeh power station oil spill, caused by the Israeli Air Force. This environmental war crime, is the most under-reported man-made and totally avoidable environmental catastrophe in recent years.

The Palin administration's treatment of Steiner, who is also an expert on the fate of the Polar Bear, is the most disturbing development I've seen in this administration. Steiner hasn't quibbled about these animals' fate. "For anyone who has wondered how global warming and reduced sea ice will affect polar bears, the answer is simple -- they die," was Steiner's response to a Wall Street Journal query back in December.

(snip)

Palin, for her part, sounded somewhat pragmatic in an op-ed she wrote on January 8, but her statement, "(t)o help ensure that polar bears are around for centuries, Alaska has engaged in research and worked with the federal government to protect them," appears to be disingenuous, given the demand that Prof. Steiner fork over a half a million bucks to have access to some of the information the governor touts as having been done purely on the species' behalf.

Update: Cross-posted at DailyKos

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2008/01/sarah-and-bears-or-you-cant-just-let.html

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She just plain hates science and scientists, doesn't she? Just like books and librarians. She's reminding me more and more of Spiro Agnew, my state's governor who had a similar meteoric rise to the VP-ship, with a similar very corrupt past that should've caught up with him before his election - but didn't.

He's come back as Spiro Igloo.

[psychmommy]

1. she is despicable. all of her crap is gonna come out now.

the disdain of nature and science will be a detriment to the polar bear but, to us humans as well. that's nice that nature has a way of working her magic by making the hybrid even more powerful and vicious than either original. it would be nice if palin would meet up with one of the hybrids with a jammed rifle.