Tea Party Targets Murkowski In New Ad

A popular tea party group has released a new ad targeting Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.), who is staging a write-in campaign after losing her party’s primary.

The ad, ran by Tea Party Express, accuses Murkowski of backtracking on earlier promises to support the winner of the primary and states “You lost, Lisa. And it’s time you respect that this Senate seat doesn’t belong to you.”

The 60-second spot ends with an endorsement of Joe Miller, who won a narrow victory in the state’s primary.

Murkowski was appointed to the Senate by her father and former Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski in 2002. Conservative activists, including Sarah Palin, accused Murkowski of being too moderate on immigration and abortion.

Senate Republicans Denounce Energy Bill

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Senate Republicans were quick to denounce Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) new energy and oil spill legislation that was announced late Tuesday evening. 

“Democrats are treating the serious subject of clean energy like an unwanted relative,” said Senate Republican Conference Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

Alexander told reporters that Republicans have been prepared to debate clean energy for a year, insisting many of the party’s policies are similar to those proposed by the White House.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she believes that the energy plan put forth by Republicans is much more responsive than the package released by Reid.

“It has been suggested that our Republican plan is a cobbled together, not thought-out process,” she said.  “We put together a package that responded to the situation in the Gulf. We must increase the strict liability limits, structurally reorganize the MMS, [and] we amend the oil spill liability trust fund.”

Republicans are concerned with one part of the Reid bill that aims to end hydraulic fracturing, the method used by the natural gas industry. Later in the day, Reid told reporters that such criticism is invalid, explaining that the U.S. should explore cleaner methods of extracting natural gas. 

Democrats are launching an aggressive move to pass the legislation before adjourning for the August recess.

New Republican Senate Leaders Appointed

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate Republican Leader, introduced two new GOP leaders on Thursday. Both were elected without opposition. 

Senator John Thune (R-N.D.), replaced Senator John Ensign (R-Nev.) after Ensign resigned from his post as chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Thune had previously served as the vice-chairman of the policy committee. 

Thune said that he and his committee will craft policy to counteract the Democrats in Congress, who he said are “proposing the largest tax-increase in American history, spending at unprecedented levels, exploding the debt, putting on a new energy tax, nationalizing one-sixth of the economy with the health care system, taking ownership interest in now over 500 companies, [and] calling for more unionization.” 

Thune also hopes to present a “forward-looking, positive agenda for America’s future.”  

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) stepped into Thune's vacated position to become Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, where she had already served at the leadership table. Murkowski emphasized the need to communicate the GOP message to the American people. 

Referencing the recent scandals surrounding the Republican Party, including the extra-marital affair that led Ensign to resign as chairman of the policy committee, McConnell said that he and the Senate Republicans will “do the people’s business; we don’t intend to be distracted by any other issues that may be out there.” 

Power lines: What the Senate is doing to ensure Americans have electricity

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

The Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources met today to discuss the means by which Americans have access to electricity across the nation through a modernized transmission system, sometimes called the Smart Grid. Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the nation’s transmission system has not kept up technologically with both the energy potentials before us and the sheer volume of electricity flowing through it. Also concerning was the fact that regionally based renewable energies, such as solar power in the Southwest or wind energy in the Midwest, cannot efficiently be transmitted across the nation to areas that might need that energy. Ranking Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “We can generate all the electricity from wind and other renewable sources we want, but it doesn’t do us any good if we don’t have the capacity to get it to consumers.” Murkowski said that, “by 2013, the EIA projects a 30% increase in U.S. electricity demand, but the transmission has only grown 6.5% since 1996.” Given this, she said, “It’s understandable that our transmission isn’t adequate to meet our future energy needs.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) testified before the committee, but said that in the past 10 years, the U.S. has developed over 6,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, and less than 600 miles of new electrical lines. “We’ve got a problem” Reid said. He likened the national transmission system to the railroad network across the country or the national highway system, because it would provide a uniform means of connecting the nation.

While testifying, Senator Reid said that he is introducing a bill, S. 539, which would have the president designate national areas of renewable energy and establish a structure for linking that with the nation. The proposed legislation would create a federal back-stop transmission citing authority, which would give the federal government the power to place power lines where necessary. It would also give the FERC the ability to move along siting projects which have stalled in one way or another. Reid said the bill gives states authority to move forward on their own in developing the infrastructure, but gives the federal government the power to step in if progress is not made. This bill is similar to the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which gave the Department of Energy the power to designate National Transmission Corridors across the nation in especially congested areas of electricity flow. Senator Murkowski’s office said that to date, not one transmission line has been sited pursuant to the 2005 Act, prompting the additional legislation.

Udall: Green is the new red, white, and blue

By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

At the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the future directions of energy research and development, Ranking Member Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) said that, “If we are going to be the leader in energy technology, investment in Research and Development (R&D) is a must, and the two are certainly not mutually exclusive.”

The legislative proposal considered today will not only reauthorizes the research and development components of the energy policy act of 2005 but it doubles the authorization funding from 2009 to 2013.

Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu emphasized the importance of the U.S. becoming less carbon intensive and less dependent on foreign oil. “In the near term, President Obama and this Congress have already taken key steps to passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” which Chu says will help put people to work at making homes more energy efficient. “Getting this money into the economy quickly, carefully, and transparently is the top priority for me.” said Chu.

Chu also stated that funding needs to be increased in the sciences because, “we need to do more transformational research at the DOE to bring a range of clean energy technologies to the point where the private sector can pick them up.” He stated that this will help to make abundant, affordable, low-carbon bio-fuels a reality.

Senator Mark Udall (D- Colo.) remarked that there is a need for a long term R&D investment, and it is clear that National Labs will start playing an important role in regard regard to energy efficiency. He went on to state that, “There is a saying that has been making the rounds for the last years, which is green is the new red, white and blue, in other words, one of the most patriotic things we can do is to develop this new energy economy, and maybe we will see you sitting on a poster; “Sam needs you”.”

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that clean coal and nuclear power are far more important than maybe some people appreciate. He stated that, “Now we are going to have spent nuclear fuel sitting around in pools all over America and also tell the nuclear power industry, we have no way of either reprocessing or storing spent nuclear fuel around America, and we expect nuclear power to be an integral part of this nations energy future.” McCain went on to question the need for funding research when the Europeans and Japanese are already doing it in a safe and efficient fashion.