There was a time not long ago that Sen. Susan Collins was considered a stand-out Republican for her stance on climate change and environmental advocacy, but in recent months she has reversed her position on climate protections she once championed. Over the same period she has seen a jump in the amount she has received in donations from the oil and natural gas industry.
For the 2020 election, Collins’ campaign committee has taken $289,469 from Political Action Committees (PACs) and individuals in the oil and natural gas sectors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Third quarter filings with the Federal Elections Commission show that between July and October of this year, Collins’ joint fundraising committee — Collins Maine 2020 — accepted $75,200 from oil executives and corporate PACs.
Roy L. Hunt and his wife, Nancy Ann, both donated $15,000 to Collins Maine 2020 in July. Hunt is the executive chair of Hunt Consolidated Inc., a Texas-based conglomeration of businesses that “include oil and gas exploration and production, refining, [liquid natural gas] LNG, power, real estate, investments, ranching and infrastructure,” according to its website.
Four executives with Wyoming-based Sinclair Oil contributed $2,800 each to Collins Maine 2020 on Sept. 17, totaling $11,200.
In September, PACs run by Halliburton Company, Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Continental Resources all donated $5,000 to Collins’ campaign committee, Collins for Senator.
The fundraising shows a significant jump in the sector’s support for Collins. During her last run for office in 2014, her campaign received $87,466 from the oil and energy sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, around a third of the sum the industry has contributed since.
Climate pivot
During the Obama administration, Collins cosponsored a bill that would have capped carbon emissions. While George W. Bush was in office, she blocked an effort led by the president to open up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. These moves, among others, earned endorsements from the League of Conservation Voters and the Environmental Defense Fund, which ran ads in Portland and Bangor that promised: “Sen. Susan Collins is confronting climate change that threatens our water and working to make Maine a clean energy leader.”
Since Donald Trump took office in 2016, Collins has taken a number of votes that buoyed the fossil fuel industry and undercut environmental protections as well as efforts to address climate change and transition to a more sustainable economy.
These have significantly strained Collins’ relationship with the environmental movement. In a recent blog post, Adam Kolton, director of the Alaska Wilderness League, wrote that he used to see Collins as part of a coalition of lawmakers who voted based on conviction, rather than party affiliation on climate issues.
“Senator Susan Collins, Maine’s senior Senator, was once in that category, speaking out and standing up for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge among other cherished landscapes,” Kolton wrote. “But in 2017 Senator Collins flip-flopped, casting one of the swing and decisive votes in favor of the GOP Tax Act that mandated oil leasing in the Arctic Refuge.”
The Trump administration is poised to begin auctioning off drilling rights to the land, which is a critical environment for polar bears and caribou, before the end of the year.
“This vote reverses her 20-year record of opposing efforts to allow oil drilling in ANWR, and it is inconsistent with every public statement she has made about why ANWR should not be sacrificed in the pursuit of fossil fuels,” said Lisa Pohlmann, executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, in a statement released as the bill passed in 2017. “Mainers who respect Senator Collins have every right to be disappointed with her vote for this tax bill.”
Collins now attacks opponent for positions she once held
In her bid for re-election, Collins reversed her position on several of the climate policies she previously supported, deriding Democratic challenger Sara Gideon for her climate plan that aims to reduce national carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
“What I won’t do is what Sara Gideon wants to do, which is put a $0.40 per gallon tax on home heating oil, propane, diesel. That would be a disaster for our families, our farmers, our fishermen,” Collins said during the Oct. 14 U.S. Senate debate hosted by Maine Public.
However, Collins authored a very similar proposal in 2009. The CLEAR Act, which she wrote with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), would have charged a fee for all emissions of greenhouse gasses. Adjusted for inflation, the proposed bill would have charged between $15 and $42 per ton of CO2 emitted in the year 2022, with the potential to increase to a maximum of $60 per ton by 2027.
The proposal Gideon supported in the State House, authored by Rep. Deane Rykerson (D-Kittery), would have charged $15 in 2022, increasing to $40 per ton by 2027.
In a September interview with InsideClimate News, Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs for the League of Conservation Voters said Collins has been a disappointment to many in the climate movement for failing to take a stand against the policies of President Trump.
“We needed Senators, especially Republican Senators, to stand up to the Trump administration, the most anti-environmental administration ever,” said Sittenfeld. “Unfortunately, on far too many occasions, when we really needed Senator Collins’ support, she wasn’t there.”
Photo: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine at the International Can-Am sled dog race. | Sen. Susan Collins, Facebook
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Collins shifts dramatically on climate change, accepts $290k from fossil fuel industry - mainebeacon.com
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