… to bring to national attention. I hope all those who want to see her elected in 2012 support her in this fight. It will be very important to make much of it even if she loses because, when oil goes back over $100 /barrel, people will remember that she was right to push for drilling in ANWAR.

This is a golden oppotrunity for Palin to garner some “street cred”. The public is on her side with this one, She could put the PR framework together making the case that opening ANWR would be like an insurance policy against runaway oil prices. She could take on typical the Washington bureacracy and invite these blowhard dems to come up and see this barren wasteland they refer to as pristine. If she played her cards right and came out victorious, the image of this media created “airhead”that took on and buried the cronies in DC would make the MSM morons have alot of egg on their face. It would make her a force to be reckoned with.

Their status is very different from that of the Original Thirteen, Texas, and, sorta, California and Hawaii. From the Northwest Territory to the Lousiana Purchase, the Mexican Cession, the Oregon Territory, and Alaska, all the lands were conquests or acquistions of the US Government

Virtually all of the landmass of the Northwest Territory and the Louisiana Purchase devolved to the territories and then states formed from that landmass. Aside from the Constitutionally sanctioned forts, post offices, customs houses, and courthouses, there is little federal land in these old states and most of the national parks, forests, and monuments were rather lately acquired by the US from the states and private landowners.

The more remote reaches of the Louisana Purchase, the Mexican Cession, the Oregon Territory, and Alaska are another story. In all these areas powerful interests opposed statehood and privitization of the land. In all the western states there was conflict between those citizens who wanted private land and self-determination through statehood and those interests such as mining and large scale ranching and timber harvesting. In the last half of the 19th Century, the West and Alaska were simply a playground for those who could get a sanction from Washington to do something or another on federal lands. Those sanctions were acquired in the time honored ways; political contributions, bribes, and favorable business relationships.

Even as the western territories move towards statehood, the conflict continued as various interests tried to keep land in federal hands rather than turning it over to the newly forming states and then into private hands. If you’d like to see how powerful this still is, see if you can get your Congressman to introduce a “Comprehensive” rewrite of the 1872 Mining Law. On this one, I agree with the Greenies, that law gives the fed and the states no revenue and no protections from the mining industry. Industry abuses under the 1872 Mining Act are one of the major forces behind the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws. Frankly, mines not subject to very strenuous regulation are very, very bad neighbors. Likewise, large scale cattle ranching much preferred essentially free access to federal open range rather than state controlled private lands. Even today, much of the landmass of western “States” isn’t a part of that state, it remains federal land. Best I recall, Nevada is still 83% federal land. I think that’s the worst, but all the intermountain west states remain majority federal owned and controlled. And just to be clear, I’m not talking about “Crown Jewels” like Yellowstone and the other national parks, I’m just talking about land no different from any of the land around it, but which remains in federal hand rather than in the hands of the states. Now, Greenies have replaced miners and ranchers as the primary force to keep western lands in federal hands.

Alaskan resentment towards the federal government became something of an issue in the recent Presidential Campaign when Goveror Palin’s ties to the Alaska Independence Party came to light. That was a nothing issue, but the AIP is very real. From the purchase in 1867 until the 1912 Organic Act, Alaska was the ruthlessly exploited playground of the mining, fishing, and fur industries. Alaska was merely a military district with no self-governance, no infrastructure, no law while untold fortunes were removed from the Territory by whatever company could get US sanction to do so.

From 1913 until Statehood in 1959, Alaska continued to be ruthlessly exploited but it had some semblance of self-governance through a Territorial Legislature. It really didn’t have the power to legislate about anything that meant anything, but its legislative acts were important enough to cause the Alaska-Juneau Mine and the Alaska Canned Salmon Industry to rent the top floor of the Baranof Hotel in Juneau during the Session and stock it with Seattle hookers and free bar.

The Alaska Statehood Act promised the State of Alaska the right to select from the landmass of the Alaska Territory 117 Million acres of land (or thereabouts, I’m working from memory). The US almost immediately reneged on the promise and began to place all sorts of restrictions on the State’s land selections. Fortunately, some of Alaska’s Founders had the foresight to make some very nondescript land near Prudhoe Bay one of the State’s first selections. Alaska fought with the US all through the Sixties over land selection and the US largely held up State selection. The Prudhoe Bay oil discovery of 1968 brought some of the land claims issue to a head as rights of way had to be settled for a pipeline to bring the Prudhoe Bay field’s oil to market. This led to the 1972 Alaska Native Lands Claim Settlement Act (ANCSA), which putatively settled aboriginal claims against the US and the State of Alaska.

ANCSA didn’t really put the whole matter to rest because the State was still in conflict with the US over State selections. I’m not sure that to this day Alaska has completed its selections but the framework of selections was set out an turned on its head with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANCSA) passed in ’80. This is one where the Democrat was right. Sen. Mike Gravel wanted to kill the Carter Administration legislation and get along, go along Ted Stevens wanted to help pass it. Steven’s complicity in this caused him to have a political near death experience. In any event, ANILCA turned the Statehood Compact on its head and let the US select first and Alaska got the scraps.

After ANILCA, the US designated its lands and designated them as national forests, parks, reserves, and wilderness areas. ANWR is a reserve. It was so designated under intense pressure from the State and the oil industry in opposition to the Environazis who wanted wilderness designation. Federal wilderness might as well be land on the dark side of the moon. The “reserve” designation was to keep this known oil province from being cast into the outer darkness of wilderness designation.

So, had the US not almost immediately reneged on its promises in the Statehood Act, what is now known as ANWR would in all likelihood be State of Alaska lands and would long ago have been producing oil. Now we get the almost annual ritual battle of Alaska politicians trying to wrest ANWR development from a recalcitrant Congress. Ain’t happenin’!

Sarah, Looking forward to your speach at CPAC. When speaking or campaigning always speak to all Americians with the same message.Never try to single out one group just to get their vote. Never single out male or female.
The message you have is for all Americans that believe in our constitution and the rule of law.All Americans should obey the laws of the land. Give us a hard hitting Federalist speech and be sure to hit hard on free interprise. Seems like some of our Republician Learders are gona let us down. You will bring the house down. Give us a had hitting energy lesson. America sure needs some uplifting encouragement from you. You are our greatest hope for the future.
JTK