Environmental Groups Criticize McCain's Choice of Palin

Even before Alaska governor Sarah Palin had completed her debut speech as John McCain's running mate, environmental groups had published critiques of her record.

Here's some of what they had to say:

“Sarah Palin’s record is not extensive — just two years ago she was the mayor of a city of less than 10,000 people — but what her record indicates is troubling. This spring, she opposed the listing of polar bears as a ‘threatened’ species. She supports the brutal aerial hunting of wolves. And she has been a friend of Big Oil, opposing a windfall profits tax on the oil industry that could fund affordable clean energy for more Americans. Palin’s husband works for BP," said Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of Earth Action, which had endorsed John Edwards in the Democratic primaries before endorsing Obama in the general election.

"Palin’s addition to the ticket underscores the difference between the candidates on environmental issues," he added. "The McCain-Palin ticket is a recipe for energy disaster. Barack Obama and Joe Biden offer a vastly superior agenda."

"With the pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, John McCain's race towards the Bush administration's failed energy policy is now complete," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, an early endorser of Obama. "John McCain was once willing to stand up to his own party, but now that he is running for president, he supports the same Bush policies and powerful special interests that put us in the grip of the oil companies. One of the last remaining independent policies putting him at odds with Bush was his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, yet he has now picked a running mate who has opposed holding Big Oil accountable and been dismissive of alternative energy while focusing her work on more oil drilling in a wildlife refuge and off of our coasts....

"Senator McCain has lost any chance of having a balanced or moderate ticket with this choice and has instead opted for the same, business-as-usual reliance on the outdated oil companies that has been the hallmark of the Bush-Cheney administration," Pope added. "On the third anniversary of the hurricane that knocked loose oil rigs and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast that is bracing for another hit, McCain is sending a terribly indifferent message by selecting a candidate who only repeats Big Oil's talking points."