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I heat my home with a heat pump. It keeps the house warm through a Maine winter and costs less than the oil it replaced. It was one reason I was so disappointed that Sen. Susan Collins voted to advance the 2025 budget bill that rolled back the tax credits that help other Maine families make the same switch.

Sen. Collins often positions herself as an environmentalist, but her voting record doesn’t always reflect that. She earned a 0% rating from the League of Conservation Voters in 2024 and 31% in 2025, alongside her vote against the Inflation Reduction Act. Most recently, Collins voted to confirm Eighth Circuit judge Justin Smith, whose record as Missouri’s deputy attorney general included backing industry challenges to state clean water protections.

On May 18, Collins voted to confirm Stevan Pearce as director of the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees more than 245 million acres of public lands. Pearce has a track record of supporting the sell-off of public lands, conflicts of interest with the oil and gas industry and a history of trying to shrink and block the designation of national monuments.
Maine’s clean air, rivers and reduced dependence on heating oil didn’t happen by accident. Given her recent votes, how can Mainers trust Sen. Collins to protect our environment from big oil and gas?

Stephen Simpson
Portland