Smith on the Environment

Smith Has Taken A Quarter Of A Million Dollars From Big Oil and Gas. Since taking office, Smith has accepted $259,775 from the oil and gas industry and $639,061 from the energy sector as a whole. [www.opensecrets.org]

Smith Flip-Flopped on Drilling in the Arctic, Voting to Allow it After Pledging Opposition in 2002. During his 2002 campaign, Smith sided with environmentalists and opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and, since then, he has occasionally voted against drilling in the refuge. But in 2005 and 2006, Smith voted for Republican budget packages that contained provisions to allow drilling. [Oregonian, 8/22/06; Vote 303, 11/3/05; Los Angeles Times, 11/4/05; New York Times, 11/4/05; Vote 74, 3/16/06; Washington Post, 3/18/06; Anchorage Daily News, 3/17/06; Los Angeles Times, 3/17/06]

Smith Voted Against Reducing Green House Emissions Twice.
In 2005, Smith voted against an amendment offered by Senator John McCain to limit greenhouse emissions. McCain’s amendment “called for a sharp change in U.S. climate change policy away from voluntary emissions reductions, would have required the electricity generation, transportation, industrial and commercial sectors to slash emissions of greenhouse gases in 2010 to 2000 levels or purchase tradable emissions to meet the cap.” He had voted against a similar plan in October 2003.[Vote 148, 6/22/05; MarketWatch, 6/22/05 Vote 420, 10/30/03; www.LCV.org]

Smith Voted Against Extending Renewable Energy Tax Credit.

In March 2006, Smith voted against extending the renewable energy production tax credit for four years. The budget amendment Smith opposed also would have provided $4 billion for LIHEAP and other energy and conservation programs. [Vote 42, 3/14/06; Albuquerque Tribune, 3/15/06]

Smith Opposed $8.3 Billion to Clean up Superfund Sites.
In 2004, Smith voted against an amendment to reduce the deficit by $8.3 billion, increase Superfund spending by $8.3 billion over five years, and reinstate the Superfund tax on major polluting industries to provide funding for Superfund cleanups. Explaining their support for the proposal, the League of Conservation Voters wrote, “Taxpayers are now paying more than 80 percent of the cleanup bills, and the number of Superfund sites has grown to more than 1,500, with hundreds more expected to be added in the next decade.” [Vote 45, 3/11/04; www.LCV.org]

Smith Received Failing Score on Environmental Issues Last Year. For votes cast in 2006, Smith received just a 14% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. Smith’s lifetime score from the LCV is just 26%. [LCV Scorecard]

Smith Voted Against Cutting Oil Imports By 40%. In 2005, Smith voted against a proposal to reduce America’s dependency on foreign oil by 40% over the next 20 years. [Vote #140, 6/16/05]

Smith and Big Oil:

Smith Helped Protect $5 Billion Big Oil Tax Windfall. Tax loopholes that saved the oil industry $5 billion were removed from the original Senate version of the GOP tax reconciliation bill in February 2006, but after heavy lobbying by the industry, Congressional negotiators reinserted them into the final bill. The $5 billion tax break for big-oil could have been used instead to partially offset the increase in middle class taxes. Gordon Smith voted for the final tax bill with the big-oil tax breaks. [Republican Policy Committee, 2/7/06; Washington Post, 4/26/06; Joint Tax Committee, 5/9/06; Vote 118, 5/11/06]

Smith Voted Against Imposing Windfall Profits Tax On Oil Companies. In 2005, Smith voted against an amendment that would have imposed a temporary windfall profit tax on crude oil and to rebate the tax collected back to the American consumer. Under the amendment, when taxes spiked above $40 per barrel, a 50% tax on oil company profits would have been imposed with the revenue returned directly to American drivers. [Vote 331, 11/17/05]

Smith Voted to Gut Big Oil Tax Package And Let Big Oil Keep Their Billions. In June 2007, the Senate considered a bipartisan package to provide tax incentives for alternative energy development by taxing big oil and gas companies. But Gordon Smith voted to impose a trigger that would gut the package and let the big oil companies keep the $29 billion they would have been forced to give up to fund alternative energy. [Senate Finance Committee Markup, 6/19/07; Dow Jones, 6/19/07; AP, 6/19/07; Chicago Tribune, 6/21/07; Vote #222, 6/21/07]

Smith Voted Against Collecting Nearly $11 Billion From Big Oil Companies to Fund Alternative Energy. During debate on the big oil tax package in the Senate Finance Committee, Smith voted for an amendment that would have allowed the oil and gas companies to keep $10.7 billion of the revenue that was to be spent on alternative fuel development. [Senate Finance Committee Markup, 6/19/07; Dow Jones, 6/19/07; AP, 6/19/07]

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