WASHINGTON — Senator Lisa Murkowski was unequivocal when asked recently about rising global temperatures: “Climate change is real,” the Alaska Republican told an audience in Anchorage.

Yet her stance on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is just as clear. Senator Murkowski, who heads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has long argued that it must happen, for the economic prosperity of her state and the security of the country.

Her views — contradictory to some, a pragmatic balance for others — will take center stage on Thursday when the committee holds a hearing on opening part of the refuge to drilling, an effort to raise revenue for the federal government as part of a planned tax overhaul.

For supporters of drilling in the Arctic refuge, the tax plan represents the best chance in decades to realize the dream of drilling for oil beneath the tundra.