WASHINGTON — Despite an increasing number of polls that show almost overwhelming popular support for the new U.S. carbon emission standards, Republican politicians — and even some Democrats — have unleashed a firestorm of criticism claiming it will lead to extensive job losses and higher energy prices.
The White House fully anticipated the backlash and has fired back with a string of national advertisements that highlight the health benefits of the new reductions.
In one ad, a camera slowly pans over the chest of a newborn baby with commentary about the importance of clean air to that child’s future.
Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, stressed Monday that new regulations designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants 30 per cent by 2030 are “not just about disappearing polar bears or melting ice caps. This is about protecting our health and our homes.”
An ABC/Washington Post polls shows 70 per cent of Americans agree. Across all party lines, they support tighter emission restrictions even if they lead to higher prices and job losses. In states where most electrical power comes from burning coal, support was only slightly lower at 69 per cent.
This high level of support does not bode well for Canada’s oilsands and the Keystone XL pipeline. Ready to pay a price to combat climate change, Americans probably won’t have much sympathy for a Canadian project that brings “dirty” oil to their country.
On the other hand, U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed a “balanced” energy policy that promotes oil extraction. So far, however, he has not indicated whether the oilsands are included in that picture and environmentalists continue to oppose any pipeline that would lead to the expansion of these “dirty oil projects.”
Even when Americans were asked if the U.S. “significantly lowered greenhouse gases but raised your monthly energy expenses by $20 a month,” 51 per cent of Republicans, 64 per cent of independents and 71 per cent of Democrats said “Yes.”
“A lopsided and bipartisan majority of Americans support federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions,” the poll states. “Most are willing to stomach a higher energy bill to pay for it.”
These results are exactly in line with two other recent polls examining the same questions. They are also in line with polls showing that a growing majority of Americans believe climate change is a serious problem.
But that has not stopped Republican leaders from blasting the EPA regulations.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 72, of the coal state of Kentucky, said in a statement that the EPA plan is “a dagger in the heart of the American middle class.”
“The sad truth is that the only thing America will lead in if these rules go into effect is the unilateral dismantling of our own economic supremacy and the self-imposed destruction of one of our nation’s main competitive advantages in the global economy,” he said.
Alison Lundergan Grimes, 35, Kentucky’s secretary of state and McConnell’s opponent in this fall’s midterm elections, describes herself as a “pro-coal Democrat.”
“This Administration has taken direct aim at Kentucky’s coal industry, crippling our state’s largest source of domestic energy and threatening thousands of jobs,” she said in a statement.
But Kentucky is of two minds over its support for what increasing numbers of people believe is a dirty industry that has had its day.
Retired Kentucky trucker Larry Sizemore, 67, said to Bloomberg on Monday, “People are just thinking about the here and now. I want my kids and grandkids to have fresh air.”
