Palin supports $600 million 'other' bridge earmark project

[Perky]

:ROFL:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said ''no thanks'' to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere.

But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla, that's a different story.

A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales.

Local officials already have spent $42 million on plans to route traffic across the Knik Arm inlet, a narrow finger of water extending roughly 25 miles northeast of Anchorage toward Wasilla. The proposal exists thanks to an earmark request by Republican Rep. Don Young, whose son-in-law has a small stake in property near the bridge's proposed western span.

A Democratic council member in Anchorage will try Tuesday to spike the city's sponsorship of the project, which Palin supports with some reservations.

''This is basically an incredibly expensive project that doesn't help commuters, doesn't help create jobs and may drive whales to extinction,'' said Justin Massey, an attorney advising environmentalists opposed to the proposal. ''It is also a project that serves the area where the governor is from, which is near and dear to her heart.''

The Knik Arm was one of two bridge proposals in Alaska awarded more than $450 million from lawmakers who requested money for special projects in 2005, when Young chaired the House Transportation Committee. Young, Alaska's 18-term congressman, has said Alaska still lacks basic roads, railroads and bridges that were developed long ago in older and less spacious states.

At the time, Palin's running mate for the Republican ticket, Arizona Sen. John McCain, derided both projects as wasteful. He called Young's highway bill a ''monstrosity'' that was ''terrifying in its fiscal consequences.''

''I want no part of this,'' McCain said in a July 2005 statement. ''This legislation is not -- I emphasize not -- my way of legislating.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Palin-Bridge-to-Wasilla.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Perky]

1. three recs...no comments so I will kick this myself