Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) on Tuesday slammed the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions as contrary to the nation’s economic interests.
"When you talk about the EPA, it has to be reasonable, it has to be balanced, it has to look to the cost-benefit analysis. It must allow for a level of flexibility," she said in response to a question at the Energy Information Administration’s annual conference. "And when you use all of those words, it’s impossible to include EPA in that sentence."
The comment drew laughs from the crowd of energy professionals, government regulators, and academics attending the conference.
Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the EPA’s current crop of potential regulations on coal emissions and exploration could devastate the fragile economic recovery.
"The impact to the economy, I fear, is too much, it tips us over," she said.
Murkowski said that she is concerned about climate change, adding that many localities where oil and gas exploration takes place have enacted proper environmental safeguards.
"I don’t think Alaska gets enough credit [for its environmental protections]," she said.
Murkowski said her committee is working to ease the path for energy exports over the next year, especially that of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which could provide "tectonic shifts" to the global market.
Russia is currently the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, fueling many of the energy needs in Western Europe, allowing it to control international prices. America’s entrance into that process could ding the Putin regime’s international influence.
"Russia is the largest supplier and nearly all of that is sold in pipeline and long-term contracts," Columbia University professor Jason Bordoff said on Monday. "They’re coming under pressure more and more to liberalize the gas market … [the United States] could break that monopoly."
Bordoff warned that the United States could not afford to hesitate on moving into the global market. He pointed to Australia’s recent push to export LNG, a move that could undermine U.S. trade to the substantial Asian market.
Murkowski made a similar case on Tuesday.
"We must be involved in the world markets if we are to benefit from them," she said. "Deciding to export natural gas should be easy."
LNG exports have fueled fierce opposition from environmental groups, as well as chemical companies that benefit from cheap domestic prices and do not want to see exports drive up costs.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told the conference on Monday that the administration is working "expeditiously" to grant permits to potential LNG exporters in the United States. He would not elaborate on when such exports would begin.