Ezra Klein: With friends like Lisa Murkowski, the climate doesn't need enemies

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/with_friends_like_lisa_murkows.html

With friends like Lisa Murkowski, the climate doesn't need enemies


If you were to zoom out on the BP oil spill and try to draw some lessons about prevention, you'd probably come up with these: Continued reliance on fossil fuels carries costs that travel far beyond what we pay at the pump. Things that will eventually go wrong do go wrong, and lack of planning makes the eventual catastrophe much harder to solve. When regulators can't, or don't, do their jobs, bad things happen. And finally, prevention is better, safer and cheaper than cleanup.

But that's not what Sen. Lisa Murkowski has taken away.

Murkowski plans to offer a resolution barring the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon emissions. In other words, Murkowski plans to offer a resolution making it less likely we move away from fossil fuels, making it less likely we act to prevent a foreseeable catastrophe (in this case, global warming) from occurring, blocking regulators from doing their jobs, and disrupting one of our best opportunities to prevent climate change rather than scramble to respond after its incalculable effects rip through our atmosphere.

Murkowski says that her effort is much simpler than all that. “My decision to introduce this measure is rooted in a desire to see Congress – not unelected bureaucrats – lead the way in addressing climate change," she wrote. But Murkowski has not led the way in addressing climate change. She has not joined with Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman and John Kerry in their efforts to negotiate a bipartisan climate bill. And as everyone involved in climate-change politics knows, congressional action is much likelier if backed by the threat of EPA action. As Graham told me, preempting the EPA is one of the major deliverables to get both Republicans and business groups on board.

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By Ezra Klein | June 7, 2010; 10:03 AM ET