Alaska and living here have always been a source of pride for me. I have tended to ignore the less flattering elements of the state’s persona, like its submission to the oil industry and what passes for politics around here. The country, the climate, the wildlife, the mystique are what make the place so compelling.
But, beginning about the time the Governor Interrupted ran for vice president some things that previously were kind of our dirty laundry have become very public and I think, casting Alaska in an unflattering light. The best way to describe it is Alaska politicians’ war on science. It came up again yesterday when our Republican senator admitted enlisting two energy industry lobbyists, who formerly worked at EPA in the Bush administration, to help her write legislation limiting the ability of the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources (meaning power plants and industry). And the other day the new governor came out entreating the EPA not to regulate for the same reasons the senator did. Never mind that EPA is operating under a Supreme Court order to do this -- an order put out by the Bush-appointed conservative court.
So, that’s just the most recent. Before her run, the Governor Interrupted had set up a commission to look at global warming and its effects on Alaska and what we might do about it. No report has ever been issued and now the GI is denying all of climate change to the point where she tried to subvert the climate conference in Denmark recently by saying an overblown scandal around a few innocuous e-mails was proof scientists were trying to hide the fact that there is no global warming. She belongs on Fox noise.
Then, there is this. The Cook Inlet population of Beluga whales has been declining for years. From 1,500 in the 70s to about 300 today. The whales have been declared endangered. Now NOAA has proposed a critical habitat area in Cook Inlet in an effort to save them. However our only U.S. Rep and the mayor of Anchorage have called for more study and development of the “opposing science” to refute the finding. What ever happened to science being objective? Oh, it still is, unless you disagree with what science finds.
That’s not the only one. Arctic ice melting has threatened polar bears. They live on the ice and hunt from it. Having to swim longer distances has led to deaths, particularly of cubs, and some bears moving ashore. But the GI says this will hinder oil development and says the science is wrong. This from a woman who had to go to four or five different colleges to get a journalism degree (which isn’t that difficult, believe me). Not only her but the new governor and other officials are also saying without doubt polar bears are not threatened. Like they could know.
All of these attacks on science are couched in the language of development and jobs -- most of it by people who already have jobs, not to mention some, particularly the mayor of Anchorage, who are in the process of laying off workers.
And with a large and important number of our public officials and one interrupted governor denying science, refuting science with no intelligent basis and doing it out loud they are an embarrassment to all the rest of us, or at least some of the rest of us. All you have to do is read letters to the editor around here to realize these people actually have a following.
The upshot of it all is their war on science is simply embarrassing, creates an atmosphere where everyone here is considered an ignorant flake, and in the long run, most likely won’t change a thing except ruin any credibility anyone from Alaska might still possess.
