JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A prominent Republican moderate in the U.S. Senate on Thursday said the country has an obligation to help address climate change, whether it is part of the international Paris climate agreement or not.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska made her comments to reporters in Juneau, shortly after President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing the U.S. from the climate accord.
Trump said the U.S. would try to re-enter the agreement but only if it could get more favorable terms.
Murkowski said she worries about potential diplomatic repercussions and hopes the U.S. does not fall back on its efforts to address and mitigate the impacts being felt as a result of a warming climate.
“Because we see it here in this state, and it is real, and I think we’ve got an obligation to help address it,” she said. “So whether you’re in the confines of Paris or not, we need to continue to make the commitment as a country to address the impacts that we’re seeing.”
As part of the agreement, the U.S. agreed under former President Barack Obama to reduce polluting emissions by more than a quarter below 2005 levels by 2025. Since the targets are voluntary, the U.S. and other nations in the agreement could change their commitments.
Murkowski, who has been back in Alaska and helped host a visit to the state by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, addressed the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
She reiterated her call for a thoughtful approach in rewriting the federal health care law rather than trying to pass something simply so Congress can move on to other things.
“My commitment is to make sure that we do right by the people of the state of Alaska when it comes to our health care and our access to health care and that we don’t just advance something to get it off the table,” she told the chamber luncheon.
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