When the 114th Congress convenes in January, Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski will likely take over as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — one of several committees whose work deals directly with climate and energy policy.
Unlike many of her GOP peers in the upper chamber, Murkowski doesn’t deny that the climate is changing. She’s even referred to Alaska as “ground zero for climate change.” But as we’ve pointed out, in recent years it’s become increasingly difficult to distinguish her legislative record on the issue from that of the rest of her party.
On Election Night, Murkowski told NPR that Alaskans are experiencing warmer temperatures and thinner ice and said that “this is something that we must address.” But it’s difficult to know what she means by that, because, as NPR reports, Murkowski’s “apparently not so sure what the cause is — or whether mankind is to blame.” For some reason, she brought up a volcano in Iceland.
“The emissions that are being put in the air by that volcano are a thousand years’ worth of emissions that would come from all of the vehicles, all of the manufacturing in Europe,” she said.
That position isn’t exactly in line with the latest science. NPR quoted a climate scientist who called Murkowski’s statement “untrue,” “wrong,” and “highly deceptive”
