Spenser Abraham

Energy Secretary -- Spenser Abraham

Sierra Club
Energy Secretary -- Sen. Spenser Abraham (R-Mich.)
The Sierra Club is concerned about the poor environmental record of
Bush's nominee for Energy Secretary, Sen. Spencer Abraham. Abraham led
the Senate's efforts to prevent the Clinton Administration from
increasing fuel economy in cars and light trucks. He co-sponsored two
separate bills that would have allowed drilling for oil in the fragile
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also voted to kill an amendment that
would have added $62 million to the Energy Department's solar and
renewable energy programs from being considered by the full Senate, and
he voted to delay reforming the way oil companies pay royalties for
drilling public lands. Abraham also supported establishment of an
above-ground "interim" nuclear waste dump near Yucca Mountain in Nevada,
which the Sierra Club opposed.

In 1999, Abraham sponsored legislation that would have abolished the
Department of Energy.

Americans' broad support for clean air and water makes the environment
the perfect test of President-elect Bush's pledge to heal the nation's
wounds. Unfortunately, Senator Abraham is a pathetic choice to guide our
energy policy. The Club calls on the Senate to vigorously question
Abraham about his opposition to higher fuel efficiency standards, and
his unwillingness to support conservation and renewable energy programs.

Curt Guyette is the MetroTimes news editor on Spence Abraham

When the votes from Election Day were tallied, results of one contest in particular elicited cheers from environmentalists around the country. While the outcome of the presidential election remained uncertain, the green-minded could at least take satisfaction in knowing one of their most significant enemies had gone down in defeat.

It appeared environmentalists wouldn't have Michigan Sen. Spence Abraham to kick around anymore. After six years of compiling what they consider one of the worst environmental records on Capitol Hill, Abraham was sent packing. U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow defeated Abraham by a razor-slim margin, and at least some of the credit for the victory belonged to groups such as the Sierra Club, which put a high priority on removing Michigan's junior senator from office.

But the environmentalists didn't have long to relish Abraham's ouster. Like a recurring nightmare, Abraham is already back, this time as George W. Bush's nominee to head the Department of Energy.

"It's like a perverse form of recycling," laments Dan Farough, public education campaign coordinator for the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club. "We vanquish a bad guy and he reappears somewhere else."

Farough has good reason to be disappointed. The Sierra Club, he says, put a couple hundred thousand dollars into issue ads and other efforts designed to inform voters about Abraham's "abysmal" environmental record. In its 1999 environmental scorecard, which rates legislators on a scale of zero to 100, the League of Conservation Voters gave Abraham a cipher.

During his campaign, explains Farough, Abraham was doing his best to convince the public he was a friend of the environment. It was a greenwashing campaign that began in 1998, when Gov. John Engler appointed Abraham to head the Clean Michigan bond initiative.

But Abraham has compiled a record that is difficult to disguise.

For example, says Farough, Abraham in 1999 opposed efforts to implement the "relatively modest" goal of resuming research on automobile fuel-efficiency standards. He has consistently opposed clean water programs and supported laws weakening the chemical industry's toxic-emission reporting requirements. And he has long been a proponent of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Perhaps most perplexing of all is the fact that he twice sponsored legislation that sought to abolish the Department of Energy. Now he's slated to head the department he wanted to eliminate.

"He's the wrong man for the wrong job," says Dave Dempsey of the Michigan Environmental Council. "He's shown throughout his career that he has absolutely no grasp of the wrenching changes that are coming in American energy use. He's a defender of the old guard that just wants to drill for oil to support gas-guzzlers."

In that respect, Abraham will be a perfect complement to an administration headed by former oil-industry executives Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney. Bush has made no secret of the fact that one of his first initiatives as president will be to open up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil companies.

For his part, Abraham's anti-environmental stances have been well-rewarded. According to the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group, in the 2000 campaign he was the No. 1 recipient of campaign contributions from political action committees representing industries that benefit most from anti-environmental policies. PACs representing auto manufacturers, oil companies, coal producers, the chemical industry, steel companies and others contributed $459,000 to Abraham's 2000 Senate campaign, according to information posted on the Environmental Working Group's Web site www.ewg.org.

It doesn't appear, however, that a serious attempt will be made to block Abraham's appointment. Environmentalists will more likely expend their influence fighting the nomination of Gale Norton as secretary of interior. A protégée of James Watt, the far-right Interior head under Ronald Reagan, Norton is expected to draw stiff opposition during her nomination hearings.

Which means Abraham will soon be back, in a position to do more damage than ever. His nomination sends a clear signal of what to expect from the Bush administration, says Dempsey. There will be a head-in-the-sand approach to the issue of global warming. Efforts to expand alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power will languish. The dinosaur mentality that promotes the use of high-polluting fossil fuels such as oil and coal will be guiding this nation's energy policies for the next four years.

"In short," concludes Farough, "the selection of Abraham is an extension of George Bush and Dick Cheney. George Bush has made a lot of proclaiming himself a uniter and a healer. This selection is not likely to unite or heal, let alone address this nation's dependence on oil."

January 2001 President-elect Bush's idea of a "comprehensive energy policy" is aimed at opening America's fragile wildlands to oil and gas development, not establishing new and innovative programs for sustainable energy development and reducing reliance on foreign oil.

His pick for Energy Secretary, former U.S. Senate Spencer Abraham of Michigan, is an example of that mind-set. Abraham has been an active opponent of one of the most successful U.S. energy conservation programs -- "CAFE" fuel emission standards, which requires auto manufacturers to build more fuel-efficient cars.

Abraham is expected to be in lockstep with President-elect Bush on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development.

Spencer Abraham record while in the U.S. Senate

Abraham voted in 2000 against an amendment offered by Sen. Russ Feingold in Budget Committee that would have protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling.
Voted YES on de-funding renewable and solar energy. (June 1999)
Voted NO on keeping CAFE fuel efficiency standards. (Sept. 1999)
Received a zero rating from the League of Conservation Voters.
His 2000 Senate re-election campaign received $153,000 from oil companies such as Exxon-Mobil, BP-Amoco, Chevron, and others. Click here for more information.
Voted YES on more funding for forest roads and fish habitat. (Sept. 1999)
Voted YES on transportation demo projects. (March 1998)
Voted YES on approving a nuclear waste repository. (April 1997)
For more on his voting record visit: http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Spencer_Abraham.htm#Environment