By Krista Langlois, High Country News.

Lisa Murkowski wants to revamp America’s outdated energy policy. That’s why she’s shepherding a package through the Senate that could have lasting effects on how energy in the West is developed, stored and brought to our homes and cities. The 357-page package is a testament to negotiation — an example, the Alaska senator says, of what Republicans are capable of when they’re in control.

What’s most striking, though, is what it’s lacking. There’s no mention of drilling in the Arctic, transferring public lands to state control or ending the ban on crude exports.

Murkowski personally believes that such measures are key to America’s energy future, but she also knows they’re controversial enough to derail her energy package’s chance of passing. Still, that doesn’t mean she’s giving up. In addition to her bipartisan energy package (S.2012), Murkowski has introduced dozens of additional bills and amendments this year — more in the past nine months than in any of her previous 24-month-long Congresses.