Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska conceded her Republican Party primary race Tuesday night. And despite the crowing from the enviro left and the climate-skeptic right, this is bad news.

Covering energy issues, I've often disagreed with Ms. Murkowski, particularly on whether the Environmental Protection Agency should have the authority to regulate carbon emissions. But she is one of the last few Republicans in Congress who favors addressing climate change robustly. She has even -- in her tortured, elected-from-a-deep-red-state way -- favored putting a price on carbon emissions, a rational policy that the rest of her party has demagogued to death with dishonest implications about how much it would cost Americans.

As enviros will point out, her more responsible approach did not translate into support for the climate legislation that the Democrats aimed to pass in the Senate earlier this year. She had some substantive objections, and she was in a tough position knowing that almost none of her GOP colleagues would have backed her up if she voted for the bill. But if she remained in the Senate, she may have found a way to support carbon curbs in the future.

And even if her presence in the Senate wouldn't have resulted in a yea vote on comprehensive climate legislation, at least she wouldn't have contributed to the rank know-nothingism on climate change that her victorious tea party opponent embraces.

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