Lisa Murkowski: Climate Change Double Agent

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/lisa-murkowski-climate-change-double-agent

Lisa Murkowski: Climate Change Double Agent

The Alaska Republican talks a good game on global warming—while blocking efforts to tackle it.

— By Kate Sheppard

Fri Mar. 19, 2010 2:30 AM PDT

Lisa Murkowski is the rare Republican senator who not only acknowledges that global warming exists but says she wants to do something about it. She likes to point out that her home state of Alaska is "ground zero for climate change"; about two years ago, she championed a bipartisan bill to rein in carbon emissions. In a party where Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe—who calls global warming the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people"—is the preeminent Republican voice on climate, Murkowski's views stand out. After President Barack Obama took office, environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers courted Murkowski enthusiastically, hoping she'd be a crucial GOP vote for historic legislation to deal with global warming.

But while Murkowski's climate stance may differ from GOP orthodoxy, it's become increasingly difficult to distinguish her actions from those of her denialist colleagues.

Like every Republican senator except Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins, Murkowski hasn't joined any of the current congressional efforts to curb carbon pollution. Instead, she's gone on the offensive against the White House's signature environmental initiatives. She has launched an assault on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to regulate carbon dioxide. Murkowski has also made it plain that the price for her vote on any climate bill is a lengthy list of handouts for the oil and gas industries. Murkowski once seemed to represent a new voice on climate change among congressional Republicans—but she’s now their most effective obstructionist.

Murkowski's climate stance embodies the political paradox of Alaska. In the Last Frontier, oil is king and senators from both parties cater to their industrial backers, but Alaska is also one of the states most imperiled by rising temperatures. Murkowski was appointed to the Senate in 2002 to finish her father's term when he became governor, and campaigned heavily on her support for the oil and gas industry in her 2004 reelection bid. But in 2006, she broke with most of her Republican colleagues on the subject of climate change, observing, "I believe it is a reality that man is contributing to the current warming trend. Accordingly, it is appropriate, and quite frankly our responsibility, to take steps to curb the growth of greenhouse gases."

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