Analysis: Palin could complicate energy debate

She is an ardent advocate for more drilling--off Alaska, off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the off-limits Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Yet she also has not shied from confronting Exxon Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips.

As the presidential campaign moves into high gear, McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama will duel over two overriding energy issues: whether to expand offshore oil drilling into areas long off-limits and whether to impose new taxes on oil companies enjoying tens of billions of dollars in windfall profits.

Palin is a popular governor in a state that for decades has been closely tied to oil. She may be a political novice, but she is hardly a newcomer when it comes to these two issues. Her emergence as McCain's No. 2 and possibly the next vice president could shift the campaign's energy debate.

When it comes to the oil industry is Palin friend or foe?

The answer may not be black or white but shades of gray.

"No one is closer to the oil industry than Governor Palin," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club in comments reflecting the views of a cross section of environmental activists. They cite her eagerness to embrace expanded offshore oil development, her lawsuit against further protection of polar bears so as not to hinder oil drilling in Alaska's ice-filled waters and her ardent support to allow oil companies into the Alaska wildlife refuge.

Drilling in the refuge's sliver of coastal tundra in northeastern Alaska--an area viewed by environmentalists as a treasured wild place that also harbors 11 billion barrels of oil--was believed to have been a dead issue. McCain opposes drilling there, as does Obama.

But that too might be changing.

The selection of Palin places the refuge's "energy production front and center in the policy debate once again," maintains Brian Kennedy, senior vice president of the Institute for Energy Research. The group has pushed for increased domestic oil production and has some oil companies among its sponsors.