Majority Of Americans Want Obama’s Carbon Rules For Power Plants, Poll Finds

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/30/3443099/coal-poll/

BY EMILY ATKIN MAY 30, 2014

Americans as a whole support putting strict regulations on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from existing coal-fired power plants in order to fight global warming and improve public health, a Yale University poll released Thursday showed.

According to the poll conducted in April, 64 percent of the 1,013 Americans surveyed said they support a strict policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants, while 35 percent said they opposed it — a support ratio of nearly two to one. However, the country is divided on the issue by political party, with 80 percent of Democrats in favor of such rules and 56 percent of Republicans against.

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Under the Clean Air Act — a law passed by Congress in 1970 and amended in 1990 — the Environmental Protection Agency is required to regulate any air pollution that threatens public health. After thorough scientific review, the EPA in 2009 officially found that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare, a finding that is widely agreed upon by scientists.

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For example, Six Senate Republicans — Marco Rubio (FL), David Vitter (LA), Tim Scott (SC), Mike Enzi (WY), Jeff Flake (AZ), and Tom Coburn (OK) — recently sent a letter to the EPA asking the agency not to move forward with the draft proposal. Three of the six are on the record denying man-made global warming. Over the course of their careers, these six senators have taken $3,141,624 from fossil fuel interests, according to a CAP Action analysis of OpenSecrets data.

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