Palin acknowledges global-warming threat

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin acknowledged Tuesday that global warming was harming her state but said stepped-up natural-gas production could mitigate its effects.

Speaking at a hearing before Interior Secretary Ken Salazar — the third of several he is holding to consider renewed oil and gas leasing on the outer continental shelf — Palin said relatively clean-burning natural gas could supplant dirtier fuels and slow the discharge of greenhouse gases.

"We Alaskans are living with the changes that you are observing in Washington," she said. "The dramatic decreases in the extent of summer sea ice, increased coastal erosion ... and overall ecosystem changes are very real to us."

Palin previously had questioned the science behind predictions of sea-ice loss. Her administration sued the federal government to block endangered-species protections for polar bears, whose habitat is melting. When she was the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2008, partisan crowds cheered her on by chanting, "Drill, baby, drill."

But at Tuesday's hearing, she dispelled any doubts that she was committed to combating global warming.

She cast energy development as part of the answer.

"Stopping domestic energy production of preferred fuels does not solve the issues associated with global warming and threatened or endangered species, but it can make them worse," she said.

The Interior Department will be looking with interest at alternative energy prospects, Salazar told the more than 1,000 Alaskans at the hearing, but traditional oil and gas will remain part of the energy program.

Alaskan officials say opening offshore waters to petroleum production will create 35,000 jobs with a payroll of $72 billion over the next 50 years.