Here’s some good news on a possible way forward on climate change, Cap and Dividend. Senators Cantwell and Collins’ CLEAR Act:
Energy & Environment Daily: GOP Pollster Sees Backing For Cantwell-Collins Bill
Ashlie Rodriguez
Friday, April 23, 2010 1:05 PMMany moderate and conservative voters say they support reducing carbon emissions and investing in renewable energy sources, according to pollingconducted by Public Opinion Strategies (R).Pollsters asked 800 likely voters nationwide and 1,000 likely voters in five politically moderate to conservative states — Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Idaho and Virginia — about their views on climate legislation. In particular, they hoped to test the policies laid out in the Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal Act put forth by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D- Wash., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.“The CLEAR Act from Cantwell and Collins has the best chance of getting more votes over party lines because people like the concept of less government involvement [and a] tax-cuts-style refund back to the people,” said Glen Bolger, a co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies.Fifty-seven percent of Republican respondents in the five states said they think America’s energy policy needs “either a complete overhaul or major reform,” and even bigger majorities of Democrats and independents agreed. And three-quarters of respondents favored policies that reduce emissions and increased the use of renewable energy sources.
When read a (glowing) description of the clean energy refund, a measure proposed by the CLEAR Act that would charge companies for emissions and then refund most of the money to taxpayers, 74 percent of those in the national survey approved of the idea. Only 11 percent strongly disapproved of the refund as described in the poll. Bolger concluded that people were most receptive to messaging that emphasized the measure’s fairness and the fact that it would “reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
