Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall’s plans to encourage the use of renewable energy could end up benefiting several of the congressman’s investments, according to a review of his recent financial disclosure forms.

Udall’s May 22 disclosure to the Senate Ethics Committee reveals he has at least $31,000 invested in mutual funds and IRAs backed by clean-energy investments.

These investments could benefit from policies Udall has announced his support for both on the campaign trail and during his time in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The top holdings for Powershares WilderHill Clean Energy, in which Udall has invested from $16,000 to $45,000, include First Solar Inc., an Arizona-based firm developing solar-energy technology.

Udall has purchased $15,000 to $50,000 worth of shares in the Winsloe Green Growth mutual fund, which also has invested in the solar-technology firm.

Udall purchased shares in both investments Nov. 13, according to his financial disclosure.

First Solar is one of several of the funds’ investments that could benefit from Udall’s policies, including a national version of Colorado’s Amendment 37, which would have required that public utilities produce 15 percent of their energy using renewable sources by 2020.

The power-generation mandate, which never came up for a vote in the Senate, could have created a spike in demand for renewable-energy technology.

Udall has announced on his Web site he will continue to pursue such a policy if elected to the Senate: “I strongly believe in the establishment of a federal Renewable Energy Standard and, as your senator, I’ll be the deciding vote to make sure the measure makes it to the president’s desk.”

Dick Wadhams, campaign manager for Udall’s opponent, Republican Bob Schaffer, said Udall should confront his own conflicts of interest as enthusiastically as he has confronted his opponent’s alleged problems.

“He should hold himself to the same standards that his campaign seems to be applying to Bob Schaffer, which is any involvement with any business entity is inherently a conflict of interest,” Wadhams said. “That’s the underlying attack they’ve made on Bob Schaffer on a number of fronts.”

Tara Trujillo, spokeswoman for the Udall campaign, replied that Udall’s investments merely underline his commitment to ending the U.S. addiction to oil through the use of renewable energy sources.

“He supports that vision in every way possible, including with his own investments,” Trujillo said.

Schaffer’s investment portfolio also contains investments some have called inappropriate, according to a Daily Sentinel review of his May 14 Senate Ethics Committee financial disclosure.

At least five IRAs and funds listed on Schaffer’s May 14 Senate Ethics Committee financial disclosure are invested in companies doing business with the government of Sudan, according to the Sudan Divestment Task Force.

Sudan’s government has done nothing to halt a genocide occurring in the country’s Darfur region.

As a result, a number of large financial institutions, including Colorado’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association, have worked with the task force to divest from companies investing in the African country.

The task force has flagged funds in which Schaffer has invested $19,000 to $110,000.

According to the task force, Schaffer’s largest Sudan-linked investment, American Funds EuroPacific, holds more than $1.8 billion worth of stock in companies suspected of investing in Sudan, including India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

The Udall campaign, apprised of Schaffer’s holdings, called the Sudan-linked investments troubling.

Udall, according to Trujillo, has divested himself from funds invested in companies working in Sudan, including the Lazard Emerging Markets Fund.

Trujillo said Udall invested in the fund in December and sold all of his stock in the fund — $46,000 worth — in February.

“Bob Schaffer should do the responsible thing and divest himself from these investments like Mark Udall did,” she said.

Schaffer’s campaign manager, Wadhams, said Thursday the IRA and mutual funds’ managers — and not Schaffer — determined where they invest their money.

Wadhams did not return follow-up calls for comment Friday, one day after he requested that The Daily Sentinel provide him with a listing of Schaffer’s Sudan-linked investments.

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E-mail Mike Saccone at mike.saccone@gjsentinel.com.