And environmentalists are describing Ms Palin, who denies climate change is manmade, as "either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading". She wants to start drilling. She wants to block US moves to list the polar bear as an endangered species, the paper said

And she has allowed big game hunters to shoot Alaska’s bears and wolves from low-flying planes, the paper said. The 44-year-old governor says a federal government decision to protect the polar bear will cripple energy development offshore. As a result, she is suing the Bush administration, which ruled the polar bear is endangered and needs protection. The US geological survey says climate change has shrunk Arctic summer sea ice to about 1.65 million square miles, nearly 40 per cent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000.

In such a situation it was unconscionable for Ms Palin to ignore overwhelming evidence of global warming threat to sea ice, says Mr Kassie Siegel of the Centre for Biological Diversity. "Even the Bush administration can’t deny the reality of global warming," Mr Siegel said.

Ms Palin would also like to bring open-cast coal mining to Alaska’s Brooks Range Mountains. —ANI