While trying to appeal to centrist voters in the November governor's race, Republican Knute Buehler has repeatedly touted his green credentials in television commercials and campaign literature.

His claims have drawn protests from environmental groups who say Buehler's statements are little more than greenwashing. As a state representative, Buehler has earned a lifetime failing grade from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. Though he says climate change is real, he opposes the state's cap-and-trade legislation to address it.

On his campaign website, Buehler says it's not true that he has "sided with big corporations and received $100,000s from anti-environment groups and voted against clean energy and instead for dirty coal." He doesn't cite the source of the claim.

Part of Buehler's assertion is correct. It is not true that he voted for coal. He broke with his Republican colleagues and supported a 2016 bill to end Oregon's reliance on coal-fired electricity.

But another part of Buehler's claim – that he has not taken major donations from anti-environment groups -- is false, an analysis of campaign finance disclosures by The Oregonian/OregonLive shows. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Some of Buehler's biggest donations – at least $884,500 – have come from Oregon corporations and lobbying groups that have opposed or weakened environmental regulation, records show.

Since 2011, Buehler has taken:

$350,000 from James Young, co-founder of Entek International, a Lebanon battery parts manufacturer. Entek sued the state in 2017 to prohibit the Department of Environmental Quality from telling neighbors and employees about potentially risky levels of a cancer-causing solvent in the air around its factory. Entek has given Buehler $75,000. Young and company president Larry Keith have also supported organizations funding Buehler's election effort, including Restoregon ($5,000 to Buehler) and Priority Oregon, a group running TV commercials critical of Gov. Kate Brown without disclosing who's funding them.

$160,000 from Roseburg Forest Products. The Southern Oregon timber company has opposed Gov. Kate Brown's toxic air overhaul and efforts to curtail aerial spraying of herbicides in the Coast Range.

$122,500 from Freres Timber. The Lyons timber company's president, Robert Freres Jr., advocates abolishing Oregon's endangered species act.

$90,000 from Lone Rock Timber Management. The Roseburg company tried to buy and log the Elliott State Forest, a sale strongly opposed by environmental groups statewide. If elected, Buehler could wield a tie-breaking vote on whether to reverse course and sell it. He opposed legislation to spend state money to protect it.

$55,000 from Hampton Timber and its owner, David Hampton. The company has advocated for reducing Oregon's endangered species protections for the marbled murrelet, a tiny seabird that nests in coastal old growth forests.

$15,000 from the Oregon Forest & Industries Council and Oregon Business & Industry, lobbying groups that successfully advocated for rolling back public health protections in Brown's toxic air initiative.

$12,000 from CropLife America and Oregonians for Food and Shelter, pesticide trade groups that fought a successful 2017 ballot initiative to ban aerial herbicide spraying on timber clearcuts in Lincoln County.

Some of them have given small donations to Brown previously. The largest was $5,000 from Lone Rock Timber in 2015.

Environmental groups supporting Brown say Buehler's funding is evidence that he is not the environmental champion he's advertising.

"It's clear these corporations see an ally in Buehler, and that should make Oregonians very worried," says Doug Moore, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters' executive director.

His group has given Brown $92,500 since 2008.

-- Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657; @robwdavis