Two weeks ago, President Barack Obama’s signature climate action plan was formally published. The new regulations will require many states to reduce their use of coal, the dirtiest form of energy, in an effort to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by about a third by 2030. Almost immediately, the plan came under a barrage of legal attacks from two dozen coal-dependent states, almost all led by Republican governors and attorneys general. Meanwhile, Republican members of Congress introduced legislation to overturn the plan.
On Tuesday, after the House of Representatives resolution was approved in committee, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) claimed a victory for all Americans. The vote, he said, shows that “the American people are not happy with President Obama’s climate change policy.”
Except that, they kind of are happy about it. That’s according to new polling by Yale University’s Project on Climate Change Communication, which found that 61 percent of residents in the states suing the Obama administration support tight limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants. Individual state results are listed in the table above. Even in Kentucky, home to the plan’s biggest opponent, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), most residents support the plan.
Makes you wonder whose interests all these governors, attorneys general, and legislators are really representing.
