Roger Sant, co-founder of the AES Corporation, a power company, and his wife, Victoria, are donating $15-million to the Smithsonian Institution for a new project about oceans and marine science at the National Museum of Natural History, reports The Washington Post.

Mr. Sant is chairman of the Smithsonian Institution’s governing board and chairman of the natural-history museum’s board, a post that he is resigning later this year. He and his wife have given a total of $25-million to the oceans project.

Last year, Mr. Sant criticized a $5-million pledge from the American Petroleum Institute because of the petroleum industry’s environmental record, and the institute withdrew the offer.

Ms. Sant is president of the Summit Foundation and the Summit Fund, Washington charities founded by the Sant family, and is president of the National Gallery of Art board and honorary chairman of the Phillips Collection.

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