Alaska Politics Blog : Murkowski gives the GOP response to Obama speech on Climate Change

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Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad covers Alaska issues, including the congressional delegation, from Washington, D.C., for McClatchy Newspapers. Before joining the bureau in 2007, she spent seven years as a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covered politics, government and the state legislature. E-mail Erika at ebolstad@adn.com.

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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Murkowski gives the GOP response to Obama speech on Climate Change

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: September 22, 2009 - 3:59 pm

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, gave the Republican response today to President Barack Obama's speech
to a UN climate change panel.

But she spent most of the time elaborating on her efforts to force the Environmental Protection Agency to hold off for a year on regulating so-called "stationary" emitters of greenhouse gases, such as power plants.

In her remarks to reporters (over a conference call) Murkowski warned that in the absence of comprehensive legislation from Congress addressing greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA would fill the void. "Just the idea of this amendment has caused some consternation, and there are some who would really rather avoid taking this vote. I think it’s an important issue and it think it’s important that our colleagues appreciate that the regulatory process will go forward -- can go forward – even though we may be working as quickly as we can."

Here's an excerpt of what she said in response to the president's remarks, after the jump: "I appreciate the President’s commitment to addressing this. I agree that it is a pressing issue and that Congress does need to act on climate change, that it should be an international effort, and I also agree with him that the perfect should not be the enemy, the good. My read on it is the speech was short on details. The path that the administration has chosen, one of cap and trade, is not the only option, and many out there believe it is far from the best option. I think we, here in Congress, need to take the time to consider cap and trade, carbon tax, and other ways of reducing our emissions. I believe very strongly that action on climate change has to include meaningful reductions. We have also got to make sure that we don’t kick the economy in the head. This is really something that we need to be very conscious of, very critically aware. Reconciling the two, in other words, the reduction and emissions, and ensuring that we have a strong economy, reconciling the two are difficult, but we are working on it."

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