Palin's parting(?) shot may be in her own foot

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302852.html

In this op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Sarah Palin attempts to shoot down Obama's plan for a "cap-and-trade" system for controlling carbon emissions.

It's frankly a lot of rhetoric, but for the solitary point that it would make electricity somewhat more expensive. Though that may well be true, such a system might actually benefit the US economy in the long run, not harm it.

Cap and trade benefits low greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, by giving them the opportunity to sell offsets to higher emitters. It's a great concept, leading to a market-driven incentive for businesses to reduce emissions. One excellent way to reduce GHG is--guess what?--converting to natural gas! It's not too big a stretch to see cap-and-trade actually supporting the NG market, thereby improving the economics for the Alaska Highway pipeline.

I will assume that Palin actually wrote this piece herself, perhaps with some prompting from other figures in the GOP. Certainly, since she claimed to support cap-and-trade in her VP debate with Joe Biden last fall, it represents a change of position for her. Regardless, I wonder how carefully she actually considered the potential impact on her own state.