Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin finally shows her true colors.

Unfazed by new studies predicting the disappearance of polar bears from Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin is repeating her opposition to listing the bears as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

There's still too much uncertainty about the future melting of the polar ice cap to justify such a listing, Palin told the federal government last week. And declaring any species "threatened" because of possible global warming effects would "open the floodgates" for petitions affecting thousands of other species, she said.

Palin said the polar bear has become "a metaphor in the highly charged climate change debate." Those petitioning for protection are using the bears to affect national policy on such distant issues as carbon emissions, which should be addressed in other ways, she said.

The Palin administration is skating on thin ice with such arguments, environmentalists say. The emphasis on uncertainty lines up the state against the preponderance of global scientific opinion, which foresees continued warming due significantly to human-caused emissions.

Alaska's politicians, especially the Republicans, have always famously stood by the oil companies on every single issue.

When there were concerns about the environment when the construction of the oil pipeline was still being debated, our politicians stood shoulder to shoulder with the oil companies to assure the public that the environmentalist's were just anti-progress and that there would never be leak. Of course we have had several.

And we know the oil companies have been desperately trying to confuse the issue of global warming for decades. Now it appears that they have convinced our Governor to help them to muddy the waters on their behalf to slow down the new limitations that they must know will be coming their way soon.

I think that Sarah is making a huge mistake in supporting this anti-science, pro-development point of view. It makes her look less like the face of Alaska's new Republican politicians, and more like the old "Alaska's boy club" in more stylish clothing.