Alaska governor defies oil giants and own party

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) – Alaska’s Sarah Palin has made a habit of taking on big opponents and winning, but the Republican governor is facing her toughest fight yet after locking horns with the state’s powerful oil industry.

Palin, 44 has taken direct aim at the traditional comfortable partnership between the the big three oil companies in the state – BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil — and the state Republican party.


“The oil companies have been hugely influential in Alaska, certainly over the last decade and a half with the prior two administrations,” Palin told Reuters in a recent interview.

“(For) Alaskans, as owners of the resource … it is time to embrace our sovereignty.”

Reuters