Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Wednesday the push for a “Green New Deal” could provide an opportunity for her to revive a comprehensive energy bill she co-authored that would be the first update to the country’s energy policies from Congress in a decade.
“There is a lot of discussion on this so-called Green New Deal. A lot of folks are saying there is no way we can figure things out in energy space. I disagree,” Murkowski said at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Winter Policy Summit. “We can find some common ground here. A refreshed energy bill is one of things on my to do list.”
Murkowski, the chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has long pushed to update and modernize the nation’s energy laws, and is one of the most outspoken Senate Republicans about the challenge of climate change.
“We are seeing the impact of climate change and it is literally there at our front door,” Murkowski said, noting melting sea ice and glaciers, and the displacement of villages in her home state.
A version of a comprehensive energy bill she co-authored with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., passed out of the Senate in 2016 by a 85-12 vote but failed to advance in the House. The legislation would boost energy efficiency and improve land management, infrastructure, and cybersecurity of the energy system.
It aimed to increase U.S. shale gas exports by speeding up the permitting process for liquefied natural gas export facilities, invest in research for industrial-scale batteries, and improve the efficiency of commercial buildings and homes.
Murkowski also said Congress could reach a compromise on promoting clean energy research, development, and deployment of technologies such as advanced nuclear reactors, carbon capture, and long-duration battery storage.
Improving clean energy is important to help combat high electricity costs in Alaska, she said, because of a reliance on diesel fuel in rural parts of the state.
“We are pairing renewables with [energy] storage to combat the high cost and emissions of diesel fuel, but today’s technologies are not enough to fight the high cost of electricity in rural areas of our state,” she said. “We know we need to do better.”
She said any deal to promote zero-carbon energy must include nuclear power, which is a sore subject for backers of the Green New Deal. But, she said, Congress must resolve the issue of nuclear waste to get the most of the zero-carbon energy source.
Congress has stalled over a plan to store the nation’s nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, because of opposition from lawmakers in the state.
Spent nuclear fuel currently sits idle in more than 100 communities across the U.S. because the country lacks a permanent repository.
“Even though I come from fossil fuel production state, I am aggressive and bullish on the future for nuclear,” Murkowski said. “But we have to deal with the waste issue. Avoiding the political discussion is not getting us there.”
Murkowksi said appropriators in Congress are planning to meet with the Trump administration soon on reaching a deal over nuclear waste.
“I feel more optimistic than ever,” she said.
