Palin courted BP for pipeline after spill

JUNEAU, Alaska, June 13 (UPI) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lobbied BP for a 1,700-mile gas pipeline after the company was blamed for a major oil spill in the North Slope, her e-mail shows.

E-mail messages from Palin's time as governor of Alaska were made public following freedom of information requests.

Palin, according to messages reviewed by The Guardian newspaper in London, had private conversations with BP's top executive Tony Hayward to get his support for a 1,700-mile natural gas pipeline for her state.

The messages indicate Palin adjusted her daily schedule to speak with Hayward about the natural gas pipeline from North Slope fields.

BP had told U.S. lawmakers in 2007 that Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, a measure meant to spur the pipeline's development, was bad for business. Hayward later told Palin, however, the pipeline was "very important" to the company.

Palin also had to fight off potential conflicts of interest concerns over the matter. Her husband, Todd, worked for BP until 2009, The Guardian noted.

Her outreach to BP regarding the natural gas pipeline came a year after more than 5,000 barrels of oil spilled from its Alaska pipelines, the largest oil spill on the state's North Slope.