(This cartoon image is by Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News.)It has become obvious in the last few years that the Republicans will do nothing to stop global climate change (commonly called global warming). They have rejected science as a party, and were long ago bought and paid for by corporate America -- and those two facts combine to make up their total disregard for this country's environment (present and future). It has also become evident that they will use their majority in the House to block any environmental legislation proposed by the president or congressional Democrats.
President Obama has finally realized that he can no longer wait for this do-nothing Congress to act, and instructed the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) to do their job (and enact new tougher emissions rules) -- and last week the EPA did just that. They issued new rules for cleaning up power plant emissions in their Clean Power Plan -- a plan that will lower power plant emissions by 30% (over 2005 levels) by 2030.
This is not a plan that places an onerous burden on U.S. power plants. Each state is allowed to come up with its own plan for meeting the new goals, and the plants have 16 years to come into compliance. There is no legitimate reason why they should not be able to do that -- and do it without undue cost or loss of jobs.
Of course the national Chamber of Commerce (which never met a coal, oil, gas, or energy company it didn't love) immediately began to scream (and churn out propaganda about how this will devastate the nation's energy system). And they were joined by the coal industry (who knows that the dirtiest power plants in the country are coal burning plants).
But these entities are out-of-line -- and out-of-step with the wishes of the American population. Americans know that something must be done, and if Congress won't act, then the EPA must do so on its own. A whopping 70% of Americans say the federal government should require states to limit pollution due to the production of greenhouse gases from power plants. And 63% say this should be done even if it results in a $20 a month higher electric bill.
The survey also shows that the public is starting to come around and realize that global climate change is a problem that must be dealt with. About 57% of the public now sees global warming as a big problem for the United States.
The charts above were made from information contained in the latest ABC News /Washington Post Poll -- taken between May 29th and June 1st of a random national sample of 1,002 adults (with a margin of error of about 3.5 points).
