Palin might want to rethink her open-government reform platform for the 2012 governor’s race up here.

This puts into perspective the weight of Gov. Sarah Palin’s efforts to keep polar bears off the endangered species list. Palin led her state in suing the U.S. government for classifying the bears as threatened. She argued that the listing would interfere with development in Alaska — not at all surprising, since the governor apparently has a record of supporting runaway growth with no regard for environmental impacts, according to this Salon story.

As for the fate of polar bears, another reason Palin may not support doing something about melting Arctic ice is simply that she thinks the “jury is still out” on whether global warming is caused by human activity.

I’ll have more to come from climate experts who are astonished to hear such comments on climate change coming from the governor of Alaska — an area feeling some of the worst effects of a rapidly increasing climate of anywhere in the world.