From Sarah Palin’s interview with Charlie Gibson on ABC:
Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States.
According to the Energy Information Agency, whose slogan is “Official Energy Statistics from the US Government”, Alaska produced 2417.1 trillion BTUs of energy in 2005, the most recent survey of gross production. That year the entire production of the United States was 69, 381.4 trillion BTUs. That means Alaska produced 3.5% in the last government estimate.
The government released an oil production estimate in April 2008, but that still only cited Alaska as producing 12.8%.
Does Alaska produce nearly 20% of the domestic supply of energy? No, and Palin’s lie to the contrary is nothing but fumes.
Tags: Palin
September 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am
They think we are stupid! Little do they know.
September 14th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Maybe Palin was referring to oil and gas production, and not all energy, which might include electricity made by burning coal. Lie Count says Alaska produces 12.8 percent of domestic oil production. I wonder what percentage of domestic supply it produces of natural gas. If it is close to 7 percent, then Palin’s 20 percent is not far off; she just should have said domestic and natural gas production instead of energy production. I’m basing all of this on what I just read on your home page. I hate to defend her because I really do not like her; but, I’m just trying to be logical, here.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Hey Bob - I’ve heard the same question about natural gas, so let me clarify.
If Alaska produced 7% of the US’ supply of natural gas, then you wouldn’t add 12.8 and 7 - you’d average them together. That would actually further lower the percentage, which is why we didn’t include that in the first place.
But in fact the most recent EIA stat lists Alaska as providing 2.3% of the natural gas, which likely is a part of what draws their overall energy production down from their higher oil numbers.