Polls Find Strong Support for Environmental Protection and Clean Energy

Despite the sound and fury from tea party conservatives, most Americans want the government to protect us from polluters and promote renewable energy.

Last week Newt Gingrich proposed abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and replacing it with a more business friendly Environmental Solutions Agency. The NRDC did some polling, and found that only 25 percent support Newt Gingrich's proposal. Even a majority of Republicans opposed Gingrich's idea.

The poll found that most Americans think the EPA should do more, not less:

Almost two thirds of Americans (63 percent) say “the EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water,” versus under a third (29 percent) who think the EPA already “does too much and places too many costly restrictions on businesses and individuals.”

A recent Gallup poll found that promoting alternative energy is the most popular of eight legislative initiatives surveyed, more popular than fixing the tax code. Fully 83 percent of those surveyed said that Congress should "pass an energy bill that provides incentives for using solar and other alternative energy sources." Only 15 percent opposed the idea.