Gas prices--with the recent hurricane devastating an area that refines 20% of our domestic supply of gas, gas prices are about to go up.
Now FactCheck.org has weighed in on perhaps the most politically damning lie or experience issue of the campaign:
Palin says Alaska supplies 20 percent of U.S. energy. Not true. Not even close.
I diaried this error right after the Charlie Gibson interview, but it really deserves some attention. Let's review:
1. Sarah's Statement: Alaska produces 20% of the domestic supply of Energy
2. FactCheck's Response
Alaska did produce 14 percent of all the oil from U.S. wells last year, but that's a far cry from all the "energy" produced in the U.S.
Alaska's share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent, according to the official figures kept by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
And if by "supply" Palin meant all the energy consumed in the U.S., and not just produced here, then Alaska's production accounted for only 2.4 percent.
3. States with Higher Domestic Energy Production than Alaska
--- Energy production = Coal, oil, natural gas, wind, solar, hydro, nuclear
Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Kentucky, California, West Virginia, Louisiana, Wyoming, Texas
4. States and offshore areas with Higher Oil Production than Alaska
Texas & Gulf of Mexico
5. The McCain Message
Excerpt:
Q: Well, you say you’re sure that she has the experience, but again, I’m just asking for an example. What experience does she have in the field of national security?
McCAIN: Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. …. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue.
So, if she is wrong or a bad expert on energy, that's a domestic policy flaw, and a flaw with her greatest national security qualfication.
6. McCain himself Repeats the Claim that Alaska produces 20% of the Nation's Energy
On Sept. 3, McCain told ABC News' Gibson:
McCain: Well, I think Americans are going to be very, very, very pleased. This is a very dynamic person. [Palin's] been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply.
McCain repeated the false figure more recently, in a September 11 interview with Portland, Maine, news station WCSH6. --- FactCheck.org
A Note, FactCheck.org dutifully goes through all the possible ways you might interpret that Sara Palin was "trying to say something else." It concludes that even if she was trying to say something else, she was wrong about that "Something Else" as well.
7. An "Energy Expert" expert on decreasing oil Production
I would add that Alaska's oil production has been decreasing from the time Sarah Palin has been asssociated with Alaskan oil production.
Alaska Crude Oil Production (Thousand Barrels per Day)
2002 -984
2003 - 974
2004 - 908
2005 - 864
2006 - 741
2007 - 722