Palin wins:
It must be sweet vindication for Alaska’s governor. Against critics who said her 1,712-mile natural gas pipeline project would never get off the ground, who should the project bag but the “big gorilla” of American energy — Exxon Mobil. In a major surprise, Exxon announced Thursday that it had forged a partnership with TransCanada, the Canadian pipeline company that holds the state license for Palin’s $126 billion Alaska Gasoline Inducement Act project. It’s a big vote of confidence in Palin’s top project from a by-the-books company known for its rigid investment standards.
Oh, of course…
Obama administration officials who had nothing to do with this, like Energy Secretary Ken Salazar, rushed to claim credit too. What better vote of confidence could there be?
Reality-based leadership:
Other doubters had suggested the pipeline could never happen because of a global gas glut, making the pipeline uneconomical. But with the project slated for completion in 2018, and the need for natural gas expected to rise between 20% and 40% by 2030, it’s precisely now that such a project should be built.
“I think it’s very shortsighted” to assume that “market conditions are going to stay as they are today,” Palin told CNN. In an interview with IBD last July when gasoline hit $4 at the pump, she noted that if drilling had started in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge just five years ago, when policymakers were dismissing the idea of $100-a-barrel oil, “we wouldn’t be in our predicament today.”
This is another in a series of successful steps to build the world’s largest commercial construction project. For this, credit Palin. Despite the too-hip ridicule of comedians like David Letterman, she was the one who got the pipeline past Alaska’s legislature, something governors had tried — and failed — to do for 30 years.
If there are any doubts left, note that it’s Alaska’s officials giving Palin the most credit. As Deputy Natural Resources Commissioner Marty Rutherford told IBD, Palin relentlessly drove this project, walking the process through the bureaucracy, asking questions, even going to Texas on Thursday to hear from Exxon itself.
“We’re sitting here and in a short two-and-a-half years we have two premier companies in the world moving this process forward,” said Alaska Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin. “Thank you Gov. Palin, thank you participants and thank you Alaskans.”
Video BTF.
DougM (constitutional fetishist) 
