Governor Palin's Toxic Policies

It is touching whenever Sarah Palin, mother of little Trig, promises to give America’s special needs children a big hug, you betcha. But as the New Republic reports today, her actions as Governor of Alaska have surely increased their numbers – by encouraging the release of the horrific pollutants that cause birth defects.

Thanks to a long history of permissive regulation of the oil and mining industries, Alaskan newborns suffer from a rate of birth defects that is double the national average. Let me repeat that, as Joe Biden would say: Double the nation average of birth defects in Alaska due to industrial pollution. The rate in the North Slope (where Todd Palin worked) is roughly double the state average and nearly four times the national average.

Might Gov. Palin have noticed that problem and done something about it? On at least two occasions the issue was brought to her attention – and she made matters much worse. Sheila Kaplan and Marilyn Berlin Snell explain how in the TNR expose (which was supported by the Nation Institute Investigative Fund, which I direct).