The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is known as the "Crown Jewel of the Circumpolar North" and it is a "publicly owned" refuge that belongs to all Americans; not just Alaskans.
Palin admits that the U.S. should become less dependent on "foreign energy sources", and that we should "protect the environment", but suggests the president’s way is not the way to do it.
The former Alaskan governor doesn’t offer any suggestions on how to protect the environment in her Washington Post op-ed-ish piece, but she had this to say about energy:
We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore in a tiny, 2000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.
The reason the "go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats" has not been given, in spite of the Bush administration’s intense effort to do so, is because the American people have repeatedly made their voices heard and they do not approve of drilling in one of the last pristine places on the planet, to further America’s dependency on fossil fuels.
More response to Palin's Wash Post and Senator John Kerry's NY times remarks