Kline Took Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars from the Energy Industry and – Unsurprisingly – Voted for Their Bills. As John Kline took huge contributions from the energy sector for his campaign war chest, he voted in lockstep with the Bush administration’s energy bills – giveaways to the energy companies. Over the course of his career, John Kline has taken over $125,000 from energy industry PACs and more than $165,000 from the energy industry overall. He has taken more than $118,000 from the oil and gas sectors alone. (http://www.opensecrets.org, DCCC press release 8/1/08)

Kline Is a Reliable Vote Against Alternative Energy Research and Development and Energy Conservation. Kline has voted repeatedly against common-sense legislation to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, address climate change, lower energy costs for consumers and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the process.

Late last year, he voted against the Energy Independence and Security Act. Its purpose was to move the United States toward greater energy independence and security by increasing the production of clean renewable fuels, increasing the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, promoting research on and deployment of greenhouse gas capture techniques, and improving the energy performance of the Federal Government. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?tab=speeches&bill=h110-6)

Earlier this year, Kline voted against H.R. 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which seeks to invest Big Oil’s $18 billion in government subsidies in renewable energy research and development and tax credits for a wide range of renewable energy programs.

While Talking a Good Game on Lowering Energy Prices, Kline Has Voted Against Common-Sense Solutions. Kline voted against the Commodity Market Transparency and Accountability Act (H.R. 6604), to curb excessive speculation in the energy markets, close the Enron loophole, and strengthen enforcement to prevent market manipulation and prosecute fraud (Roll Call Vote #540, 7/30/08). Not exactly left-wing liberals, those who have decried speculators' role in inflating fuel prices include airline executives such as Northwest's Doug Steenland.

Given a Chance to Save Taxpayers Money on School Energy Costs, John Kline Voted No. Kline voted against H.R.3021, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. The bill – which passed – encourages public schools to run more efficiently by updating school buildings to be more energy-efficient, providing great potential for real long-term cost savings. (http://thatsmycongress.com/index.php/2008/06/05/republicans-vote-against...)

Kline Voted For Drilling in ANWR. John Kline voted in 2003 to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, regardless of the environmental impact or potential destruction of this pristine wilderness. (HR 6, Vote #135, 4/10/2003)

John Kline has gone as far as to say “the arguments that we are violating the pristine wilderness and that we are going to do great damage to the environment and hurt caribou and so forth are truly spurious.” (Mike & Maggie Show – KNFX-AM 5/17/2002)

Kline Doesn’t Believe Climate Change Is a Problem, Or That It’s Due to Human Activity. John Kline has stated that global warming is not a potential catastrophe and isn’t the result of human activity. In his own words: “I believe that there is not a catastrophic trend in the first place, and in the second place, it is likely that any of this warming is much more likely to be the result of natural activity, such as sun activity, rather than man’s activity or greenhouse gasses.” (Cannon River Watershed Partnership debate, 8/3/2002)

A Poor Score on the Environment. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has given John Kline one of its lowest scores in Congress. In 2003-2004, John Kline was tied for the worst score in the Minnesota Congressional delegation. In 2005, John Kline received the lowest possible score from the LCV. In 2006, Kline had the second-worst score in the delegation, and was called “embarrassingly out of step with Minnesota voters on conservation, energy, and public health issues.” (http://www.capwiz.com/lcv/dbq/vote_info/)