{"id":21,"date":"2026-11-04T05:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/?p=21"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:04:58","slug":"is-murkowskis-loss-an-omen-of-a-coming-tilt-toward-climate-denialism-inside-climate-news-philsugar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/?p=21","title":{"rendered":"Is Murkowski’s Loss an Omen of a Coming Tilt toward Climate Denialism? – Inside Climate News | PhilSugar"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u2014Folks with a conservation bent who cheered so heartily when Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was evidently toppled in her bid for a third term might want to think twice about their joyful reaction.
\nYes, the daughter of an Alaskan governor and U.S. senator has been diligent in attempting to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its Supreme Court-imbued authority to curb heat-trapping gases via the Clean Air Act.
\nHowever, she also wields extraordinary power as the top Republican on the prestigious Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and she\u2019s not a climate denier\u2014unlike her Aug. 24 primary opponent Joe Miller and handfuls of other Republican Senate candidates.
\nShe acknowledges the toll global warming is taking on the 49th state, and that kind of Republican moderation could be in short supply when the dust settles after November\u2019s elections.
\nIt is also worth remembering that Murkowski co-sponsored a cap-and-trade bill in 2007, voted for an energy committee bill that included a 15 percent renewable electricity standard and is considered a potential swing vote on climate legislation, though not a bill with as much punch as the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
\nThat\u2019s a bit more environmental heft than can be attributed to the Kansas native, Persian Gulf War veteran, Yale Law School graduate and political rookie who flabbergasted most everybody by eking out a primary victory against Murkowski. No doubt, the latest darling of the \u201ctea party\u201d movement was aided by his Sarah Palin endorsement.
\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t heard there\u2019s man-made global warming,\u201d Miller told an Alaska newspaper in August.
\nWhen pondering what Murkowski\u2019s loss might mean to the dynamics of the energy and environment conversation on Capitol Hill, political trackers at several nationwide environmental organizations emphasized three points: 1) Don\u2019t count Murkowski out yet 2) The Senate Energy Committee will have a different tenor if a North Carolinian replaces Murkowski as the ranking member and 3) Climate deniers could form an influential voting bloc in the Senate if enough of them are elected.
\nMurkowski Looking for Another Ballot Entry
\nNews reports indicate Murkowski is casting about safe sugar baby sites Philippines<\/a> for ways to have her name on the Nov. 2 ballot; perhaps as a libertarian or maybe as a write-in candidate because of her excellent name recognition.
\nIf she\u2019s shut out on those options, it looks as if first-term Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., would be in line to become the ranking member of the energy committee. But that\u2019s not a sure thing, Tony Massaro, senior vice president for political affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, told SolveClimate News in an interview.
\n\u201cIn a year like this that\u2019s pretty crazy, he\u2019s showing some vulnerability,\u201d Massaro explains about Burr, who won with 52 percent of the vote in 2004. \u201cHe\u2019s not well-known and his opponent is polling quite well for somebody who has not raised a lot of money.\u201d
\nBurr is facing off against Democrat Elaine Marshall, North Carolina\u2019s secretary of state who also served in the state senate from 1993-94.
\nAnd that whole chess game could be moot if Alaska\u2019s Democratic Senate candidate\u2014Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams\u2014can overcome funding how sugar daddy dating works<\/a> and name recognition challenges to beat Murkowski or Miller.
\n\u201cQuite frankly, before the primary, I would\u2019ve said that McAdams couldn\u2019t win,\u201d Massaro notes. \u201cBut now I can\u2019t say that because a lot can happen in 55 days, especially when voters are just starting to pay attention.\u201d
\n\u201cThe entire dynamics of the Alaska race are completely unclear and weird in their own peculiar way,\u201d Massaro emphasizes. \u201cThis has to play out a little while to see if Miller can consolidate all of the Republicans. Until we see some dust settling in Alaska, we won\u2019t be doing any endorsements.\u201d
\nMurkowski a Conservation Puzzle
\nIt is highly unlikely that the League of Conservation Voters would ever endorse Murkowski or Burr as environmental saviors. Both register consistently low numbers on the advocacy organization\u2019s trademark environmental scorecard.
\nMurkowski earned a score of 36 percent for her 2009 votes, so her lifetime score is now 18 percent. Burr is more reticent on energy and environmental issues, observers say. His scorecard is in the single digits, with a 9 percent score for 2009 and a 7 percent lifetime score.
\nBurr\u2019s numbers aren\u2019t much higher in the scorecard compiled by Republicans for Environmental Protection\u201410 percent for 2009 and 17 percent for 2005-09. Murkowski\u2019s were significantly higher, with 70 percent for 2009 and 26 percent for 2005-09.
\n\u201cMurkowski is a little bit of a hard animal to pin down,\u201d Elizabeth Martin Perera, a legislative liaison with the Union of Concerned Scientists, notes in an interview.
\nWhile Murkowski doesn\u2019t deny the science of climate change and supports clean energy, Perera says, she frustrates conservation organizations by calling her attacks on the EPA benign when they aren\u2019t, supporting weak climate legislation and pay per meet sugar dating<\/a> watering down the renewable electricity standard included in the bill that emerged from the energy committee chaired by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who is known as a fair and open-minded negotiator.
\n\u201cBipartisanhip is vital on these bills,\u201d Perera says. \u201cThe loss of Murkowski on that committee will change the dynamics quite significantly because fewer compromises will be brokered. And that\u2019s a concern.\u201d
\nBut all Washington observers know that Murkowski is able to go only as far as Republican leadership allows.
\n\u201cShe comes across looking like the grand compromiser and has all the right rhetoric when a bill is in committee but would she vote for it on the Senate floor?\u201d Perera asks. \u201cThe real question behind this is how good the Republican leadership is at holding their rank and file in check.\u201d
\nBurr would be less likely to strike deals with Bingaman, Massaro hypothesizes, meaning that bills with tougher environmental and energy standards would emerge from committee, but they could die more quickly on the Senate floor without signs of Republican compromise.
\n\u201cI\u2019m a little mixed about it,\u201d he says about Murkowski\u2019s Manila sugar baby<\/a> potential departure. \u201cYou can point to how her defeat would be good for the environment and you can point to things that would be bad.\u201d
\nOne boon of removing an Alaskan from a potent energy seat, he says, is less time spent on contentious issues such as drilling in the Arctic.
\nDirty Dozen Times Two?
\nNeither Murkowski nor Burr scored among this year\u2019s Dirty Dozen environmental offenders currently being tabulated by Massaro\u2019s organization. However, three of the self-proclaimed climate deniers vying for Republican Senate seats did make the cut: Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Carly Fiorina of California.
\nOther climate deniers that League of Conservation Voters president Gene Karpinski is calling on carpet include Joe Miller of Alaska, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sharron Angle of Nevada, Ken Buck of Colorado, Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and the six New Hampshire candidates: Jim Bender, Gerard Beloin, Bill Binnie, Kelly Ayotte, Dennis Lamare and Ovide Lamontagne.
\nRefusing to accept the sound and settled science that man-made carbon pollution is causing the planet to warm is a disturbing trend, Karpinksi said in a Tuesday memo. He added that the oil industry and other corporate polluters are orchestrating the misinformation campaign about global climate change.
\nIf these \u201cfull-fledged global warming deniers\u201d win in November, he said, the \u201cnumber of card-carrying members of this legit sugar daddy sa Philippines<\/a> Flat-Earth Society will rise exponentially in the world\u2019s greatest deliberative body.\u201d
\nMassaro offers yet another spin on that potential impact.
\n\u201cWhat if all the deniers get elected?\u201d he asks. \u201cAnd if Lisa Murkowski is back in the Senate, do they want her chairing the (energy) committee?\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fun parlor game,\u201d he concludes. \u201cWe know the complexion of the Senate is going to be sugar baby membership cost<\/a> different in 2011. How different and what that difference means? Well, that\u2019s why we hold the elections.\u201d
\nAbout This Story
\nPerhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or find sugar babies Cebu<\/a> clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.
\nThat\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.
\nTwo of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell sugar daddy processing fee<\/a> the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.
\nDonations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, verified sponsor Philippines<\/a> our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places?
\nPlease take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.
\nThank you,
\nDavid Sassoon
\nFounder and Publisher
\nVernon Loeb
\nExecutive Editor
\nShare This Article
\nRepublish
\nThis story sugar dating profile verification<\/a> is funded by readers like you.
\nOur nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Please donate now to support our work.
\nDonate Now
\nWelcome to Inside Climate News
\nTo continue reading, please enter your email address. Access to our nonprofit news is always free.
\nEmail Address
\nI agree to the
\nterms of service and privacy policy
\n.
\nI\u2019m already a subscriber<\/p>\n

<!– image: https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/2010-Elections.Small_.png –><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u2014Folks with a conservation bent who cheered so heartily when Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was evidently toppled in her bid for a third term might want to think twice about their joyful reaction. Yes, the daughter of an Alaskan governor and U.S. senator has been diligent in attempting to strip the Environmental Protection Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"solace_meta_sidebar":"","solace_meta_container":"","solace_meta_enable_content_width":"","solace_meta_content_width":0,"solace_meta_title_alignment":"","solace_meta_author_avatar":"","solace_post_elements_order":"","solace_meta_disable_header":"","solace_meta_disable_footer":"","solace_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24,"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philisharestory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}