Obama Nominates Former Palin Aide To Head Alaska Pipeline Project

By GottaLaff

Barbie McLipSchmutz had a Democratic aide? How'd she let that one slip by her?

President Barack Obama has nominated a former aide of ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to serve as the federal coordinator for the Alaska natural gas pipeline project.

Larry Persily has worked on oil and gas issues for three Alaska governors and the state Legislature, working on both sides of the aisle. A Democrat, he is currently an aide handling oil and gas issues for Republican state Rep. Mike Hawker, co-chairman of the House Finance Committee.

I wonder if he can see the pipeline from his house.

Another AP investigation: IWRC* Palin's Big Important Pipeline

By GottaLaff

ADVANCE FOR OCTOBER 26; map locates TransCanada proposed pipeline project that will run from Alaska to Alberta, Canada;

Poor perky Palin's pitiful, problematic pipeline pipe-dream plunges precipitously, proving her propensity for predicaments:

Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment - a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 - emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Problem.

Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence.

"We're building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever, to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets," Palin said during the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate.

Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.

Predictable.

And contrary to the ballyhoo, there's no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.

Picky, picky, picky.

The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team.

Painful.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Palin’s Pipeline to Nowhere may never be built

By GottaLaff

Poser Palin picked a purported pipeline. How many purported pipelines did Poser Palin pick?

When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project.

Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent. [...]

The reality, however, is far more ambiguous than the impression Ms. Palin has left at the convention and on the campaign trail.

[A]n examination of the pipeline project also found that Ms. Palin has overstated both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success.

The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.

Contributing to the project’s uncertainty is Ms. Palin’s antagonistic relationship with the major oil companies that control Alaska’s untapped gas reserves.

Put that in your pipeline and smoke it.

Ms. Palin won the governor’s office in part by capitalizing on populist distaste for the political establishment’s coziness with Big Oil, and her pipeline strategy was intended to blunt its power over the process. Her willingness to take on the oil companies has allowed the McCain campaign to portray her as a scourge of special interests.

Now, though, she will need the industry’s cooperation if her plan is to succeed, and just this week, her office said she intended to reach out to the North Slope oil companies.

She sure is one tough Oil Mom!

As Ms. Palin takes to the road to campaign with Mr. McCain, invoking the pipeline as a major victory, some Alaska lawmakers who initially endorsed her plan now believe it was a mistake. [...]

Ms. Palin’s push for a pipeline is central to her view that Alaska, with its North Slope gas resources, is a key to helping the United States develop an energy policy that embraces increased domestic production of gas and oil and the development of renewable and alternative energy sources.

There are many, many more details. You can see the rest here.