It was recently revealed that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) consulted with registered lobbyists on language that would curtail the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

Well, one of these former Bush-era EPA officials, Jeffrey Holmstead, now represents powerful corporate interests. Mr. Holmstead is registered with the Senate Office of Public Records as a lobbyist with Bracewell and Guiliani, and since 2007 he has represented the following clients: AMEREN Corp, Arch Coal, CSX Transportation, Duke Energy, Edison Electric Institute, Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, Energy Future Holdings, Mirant, Progress Energy, Salt River Project and Southern Company.

After digging into Federal Election Commission records, CREW has discovered more money tying Sen. Murkowski to Mr. Holmstead and his clients than was previously reported.

Since the 2004 election cycle, Sen. Murkowski’s campaign committee and PAC have received at least $126,550 from Mr. Holmstead’s firm (total: $2,000), his clients (total: $118,000), and his clients' employees (total: $6,550). Some of Sen. Murkowski’s largest donors included in that figure are Duke Energy, which has donated $22,550 and Southern Co., which has donated $38,000.

CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan stated:

"Given how much money Jeff Holmstead and his clients have contributed to Sen. Murkowski, no wonder she let him craft legislation. Energy companies do not generally make contributions out of the goodness of their hearts, they make contributions because it makes business sense."

Sloan continued, "Rather than merely getting the chance to comment on legislation, these companies actually got to write legislation themselves. It seems the investment paid off."