Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz’s past positions on energy and the environment embraced a liberal outlook, putting him at odds with his pro-drilling campaign for the Republican nomination in a state at the forefront of natural-gas fracking.
In his campaign for the Senate, Mr. Oz has promoted “the freedom to frack” and to “unleash” domestic oil and natural gas production.
“As the next US Senator from PA, I will fight back against heavy-handed regulations and protect the PA energy industry!” Mr. Oz tweeted in February.
“Back off Biden and give us the freedom to Frack!” he wrote in a separate post last month.
Pennsylvania is a major coal and natural gas producer, making it the third-largest producer of electricity in the nation and the third-largest net supplier of energy to other states.
But the surgeon, also a TV celebrity, has a long history of public advocacy for more stringent environmental, chemical and energy regulations. He even championed then-Obama EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, a prime target of conservatives during her tenure.
Comments by Mr. Oz throughout his more than 12-year career on the small screen are getting fresh scrutiny as he competes in the crowded GOP primary. Opponents say it is evidence that Mr. Oz has long sided with Democratic policies.
Republican rival David McCormick, a former hedge-fund executive, sparred with Mr. Oz over his past anti-fracking stance in a recent debate.
“On your shows, in your columns, you’ve argued for more regulation in fracking,” Mr. McCormick told Mr. Oz. “You’ve made the case that there’s health effects from fracking.”
“That’s a lie, and you know it’s a lie,” Mr. Oz responded.
Columns co-authored by Mr. Oz and business associate Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute ranged from saying fracking may cause birth defects and unsafe drinking water, to calling for a ban on coal tars and wondering “how eager the leaders of the natural gas industry would be to drink well water from a farm next to one of their drilling sites.”
The Oz campaign, which did not respond to a request for comment, has said that “Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen have very different positions on energy policy and fracking” and that Dr. Roizen took over management of their daily column when Mr. Oz launched his show in 2009.
Dr. Roizen praised his longtime associate and repeated the claims made by Mr. Oz’s campaign that the former TV doctor was not properly consulted on certain columns before they were published under both names.
“I don’t know why anyone would be skeptical. If you’re a writer with seven columns a week, it’s pretty arduous,” Dr. Roizen told The Washington Times in a phone interview. “Some he would write; some I would write. Only when the person who wrote them thought they were controversial did we share them [with each other].”
But during his TV career, which ended earlier this year, Mr. Oz also encouraged more environmental regulations to protect against potential health risks from energy companies. Those comments have undercut the claims that Dr. Roizen misrepresented Mr. Oz’s positions.
In 2013, Mr. Oz urged supporters to “encourage tougher government standards” on air pollution by contacting the EPA and their federal representatives.
“More stringent guidelines for certain pollution (particles in the 2.5-to-10-micron range often produced by coal plants and diesel fuel) provide reasonable goals for most urban environments,” he wrote at the time on the website of the Moving Forward Network.
The group described itself as a national network of organizations that “builds partnerships between … community leaders, academia, labor, big green organizations and others to protect communities from the impacts of freight.”
Ms. Jackson, the frequent target of GOP criticism when she served at the helm of the EPA, appeared on one of Mr. Oz’s shows in 2011. He praised her as “the woman at the front lines defending your right to clean air, land and water” and criticized those who levied “repeated attack[s] as she tries to clean up our nation’s most vital resources.”
After garnering more than 100,000 petition signatures in 2014, Mr. Oz echoed calls from congressional Democrats for the Obama administration to block the approval of a toxic herbicide.
A segment from one of Mr. Oz’s shows in 2009 featured how West Virginia coal mines were believed to have dumped toxic chemicals that led to contaminated water.
“Who’s poisoning our water? Businesses of every kind, from large chemical factories and power plants to your local gas stations and dry cleaners,” Mr. Oz said.
That same year, he labeled then-Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana as toxic for “setting back chemical safety on several fronts.” Mr. Oz cited Mr. Vitter’s hold on the confirmation of Yale professor Paul Anastas, known as the “father of green chemistry,” who was nominated by Mr. Obama to be the EPA’s research director.
“If the EPA doesn’t go along with Vitter, then it doesn’t get its new green chemistry guru,” Mr. Oz wrote at the time. “The EPA shouldn’t be put in this situation and the Senate needs to reel in its most toxic member.”
Speaking on Chinese state TV in 2018, Mr. Oz described a reliance on fossil fuels as a short-term strategy.
“You can spend money on oil. You can spend it on renewables. The renewables cost more today but they won’t forever. But one gives you a long-term game plan, the other one doesn’t,” Mr. Oz said at the time.
Mr. Oz’s financial disclosure form filed last week shows that he was being paid for the column with Dr. Roizen until Jan. 11 of this year, a little more than one month after announcing his candidacy.
Mr. McCormick, spouse of ex-Trump Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell, is considered Mr. Oz’s most formidable opponent for the open Senate seat and is currently the front-runner.
Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Mr. Oz over Mr. McCormick last week shocked GOP insiders and supporters of the former president, who argue that Mr. McCormick holds more conservative values and is a stronger contender against Democrats.
The McCormick campaign has responded by trying to paint Mr. Oz as a GOP candidate who supports Democratic policies.
Still, Mr. Trump has not shied away from his endorsement.
“President Trump knows that Dr. Oz is going to represent Pennsylvania well in the U.S. Senate and is proud to support him,” Trump Communications Director Taylor Budowich said in an email.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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