The Wall Street Journal - Palin to Focus on Energy-Security Policy

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The Wall Street Journal - Palin to Focus on Energy-Security Policy
By ELIZABETH HOLMES

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will remind voters of the party's energy security policy with an address here Wednesday.

"We're going to talk about finally ending 30 years of failed energy policy in this nation," Gov. Palin said, previewing her remarks during an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The Alaska governor said she will push for alternative sources of energy as well as the development of new technology "to allow our conventional sources of energy to be tapped and to flow in hungry markets."
[Sarah Palin] Associated Press

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks during a rally at Penn State University Tuesday in State College, Pa.

The speech won't offer new policies but will wrap together proposals she and running mate Sen. John McCain have developed, Gov. Palin said. Voters can expect to hear greater detail on the current agenda as well as a contrast to the Republican ticket's Democratic opponents.

"We must shape events, and not simply manage crises," Gov. Palin will say Wednesday, according to prepared remarks. She will also blame "nearly twenty Congresses and seven presidents" for their inability to make the country energy independent.

"There hasn't been the political will to get us there," she said Tuesday while onboard her campaign plane. "Now we do have that. John McCain understands that all-of-the-above approach that's gotta be adopted to get us on this path."

Wednesday's address will be the third policy speech of her candidacy and comes just six days before voters take to the polls. When asked why she was doing so now, she said, "This is when American voters are really paying attention to the issues, which is so important."

Gov. Palin said she also sees an opportunity with oil prices lower, calling it a "perfect time" to remind voters not to get complacent with the current price of a gallon of gas.

Throughout the speech, Gov. Palin will talk about her qualifications to lead on this issue, citing her time as governor and when she served on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Alaska is home to 18.5% of the U.S. crude oil supply and boasts 13.4% of the country's crude oil production, according to the Energy Information Administration.

"Coming from the huge energy producing state and as the former regulator of our oil and gas industry, and chair of the nation's interstate oil and gas conservation commission, this is one of the missions that I cannot wait to get to work on," Gov. Palin said

She will also make the pitch for a greater connection between energy and national security. U.S. security means eliminating a reliance "on volatile regimes of foreign countries, some who use energy is a weapon and not be dumping our U.S. dollars into those countries," she will say, according to her prepared remarks.

Since joining the Republican ticket in late August, Gov. Palin has often stolen the limelight from Sen. McCain. She has been dispatched to rallies in conservative parts of battleground states but has been largely kept away from the policy side of the campaign.

That changed last week when Gov. Palin laid out her policy proposals for children with disabilities. She appeared eager to talk about energy late Tuesday evening after her third rally of the day.

"There's meat to this, there is substance to this," she said when asked why she was looking forward to Wednesday's speech. "Energy policy, transformation of government and helping our children with special needs, those things that we have 15 minutes to talk about in a rally. It is important to talk about them in, in a manner with much substance."

A portion of her speech is dedicated to retelling her role in the development of a nearly $40-billion dollar system to transport natural gas to the continental U.S. Gov. Palin boasts about its conception -- even though it will be several years before it amounts to anything -- and the effect it will have on the U.S. energy supply.

"When the last section is laid and its valves are opened, that pipeline will lead America on steps farther away from reliance on foreign energy," Gov. Palin will say, according to her prepared remarks.

While discussing the pipeline, Gov. Palin will attack large oil companies for trying to monopolize the system and drive prices higher. Her comments come despite the fact that the industry as a whole gave nearly $20 million in campaign contributions to the Republicans. Gov. Palin will single out ExxonMobil Corp. as an inhibitor to the pipeline's progress, despite the oil company's more than $800,000 in donations this election cycle.

Gov. Palin will deliver her 25-minute address at the Xunlight Corporation, a spin-off of the University of Toledo that develops and promotes solar energy use.

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