Historic: Smithsonian Balks At Accepting $5M Oil Industry Donation

Historic: Smithsonian Balks At Accepting $5M Oil Industry Donation

The Smithsonian Institution has taken the rare step of putting on hold a $5 million donation from the American Petroleum Institute after two members of the museum complex's Board of Regents, including a U.S. senator, balked at accepting oil-industry money for a major initiative on the world's oceans.

The longtime chairman of the regents' executive committee, Roger W. Sant, and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), one of the six congressional regents, raised objections when the donation appeared on the board's agenda. Sant, a former energy industry executive who has donated millions of dollars to ocean conservation, said he is worried that the oil-and-gas money could taint the showcase "Ocean Initiative," which is scheduled to include a major exhibit hall and a multimedia Web site.

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