Senior Advisor
Carl Michael Smith joined The Abraham Group as a Senior Advisor in May 2006.
From 2002 to 2004 Smith served as Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, US Department of Energy. He served as the primary policy advisor to Secretary Spencer Abraham on federal coal, petroleum, and natural gas programs, including extensive research and development efforts. Smith's responsibilities including overseeing an organization of nearly 1,000 scientists, engineers, technicians and administrative staff in two national laboratories, four field offices and at DOE's headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was responsible for several high-priority Presidential initiatives, including implementation of the Bush Administration's $2 billion development of a new generation of environmentally sound clean coal technologies and the $1 billion FutureGen project. Duties also included managing the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, both key emergency response tools available to the President to protect Americans from energy supply disruptions.
Smith's international experience included service with the Secretary General, Ministry of Science and Technology, People's Republic of China, as a co-chair of the US-China Oil and Gas Forum and as Chairman of the Policy Group, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF). CSLF is a Bush Administration initiative with a 21 country membership seeking technical solutions to the capture and storage of carbon dioxide from energy generating facilities. Additionally, he led US bilateral fossil energy protocols with Australia, India, Norway and Russia.
From 1995 to 2002, Smith served as Oklahoma Secretary of Energy in the cabinet of former Governor Frank Keating. He was responsible for fossil energy policy and oversight of seven major state energy agencies and commissions. He served as the Governor's Official Representative to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), the Southern States Energy Board, the Interstate Mining Compact Commission, and the Governors' Ethanol Coalition. He served IOGCC as its Vice Chairman in 1999.
Smith served as President of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (1994) and operated an independent oil and gas exploration company based in Oklahoma City. He practiced energy law and earned bachelor of arts and law degrees from the University of Oklahoma.
