(The Center Square) – More Americans say environmental regulations will cost too many jobs and hurt the economy, a recent poll shows, as Gov. Greg Abbott defends the Texas oil and natural gas industry from what he says is an overreaching EPA in the Permian Basin.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 53% of Americans think stricter environmental regulations are worth the cost. That’s down from 65% from three years ago. More Americans, 45% compared to 33% three years ago, argue increased regulations would “cost too many jobs and hurt the economy.”
The poll shows that Americans are not only divided over “climate change” policies but also over the president’s policies and the direction in which he’s leading the country.
Among Democrats, 78% said they support more environmental laws and 79% said Biden’s climate policies are heading in the right direction. Among Republicans, 24% said they support more environmental laws and 82% said his policies were taking the U.S. in the wrong direction.
Among those polled, 89% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats overwhelmingly support planting “about a trillion trees to absorb carbon emissions.”
However, when it comes to taxation and tax credits related to renewable energy, those polled expressed opposing views along party lines.
When it comes to taxing companies based on their carbon emissions, 86% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans support the idea. When it comes to providing “a tax credit to businesses for developing carbon capture/storage,” 90% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans support the idea.
The survey was conducted among 10,282 U.S. adults from May 2 to 8, 2022.
And while California Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving to ban Californians from being able to purchase gas-powered cars by 2035, the poll found that 55% oppose phasing out the production of new gasoline cars and trucks by 2035, compared to 43% who support it. Opposition is slightly higher than it was in April 2021, when 51% opposed and 47% favored it.
The poll was conducted after Abbott issued an executive order earlier this year to protect the Texas oil and gas industry from what he argues is federal overreach.
The order directs every state agency to use “all lawful powers and tools to challenge any federal action that threatens the continued strength, vitality, and independence of the energy industry.” Agencies were tasked with identifying potential litigation, notice-and-comment opportunities, and any other means to prevent federal overreach within the law.
“Texas is a pro-energy state, and we will not sit idly by and allow the Biden administration or local governments to destroy jobs and raise energy costs for Texas families,” Abbott said when announcing the order. “My executive order will help ensure that the federal government cannot take away the livelihoods of Texans who work so hard to provide our state and our nation with the energy we need.”
An EPA plan to impose a 2015 methane rule in certain west Texas counties, Abbott argues, is “based on illogical and flawed grounds.” It’s really designed to end fossil fuels, which would have detrimental impacts on Americans struggling with 40-year-high inflation and high gas prices, he argues. It would also drive gas prices even higher because if implemented, it could jeopardize a quarter of the U.S. gasoline supply.
The proposal comes at a time when the Texas oil and gas industry continues to break monthly job creation records and last month paid the most taxes in state history.
If Texas were its own country, it would be the world’s third-largest producer of natural gas and fourth-largest producer of oil.
“At a time when the country and world depended on fossil fuel production, Texas stepped up and met the challenge on an unprecedented level to fight the Biden administration’s multiple attempts to hinder production,” Midland-based Oil and Gas Workers Association board member Richard Welch told The Center Square. “Texas found a way to get it done.”
“Texas oil and gas workers are some of the hardest working people in our state whose tireless efforts keep our lights on and gas in our vehicles,” he added. “Without Texas oil and gas workers, the U.S. wouldn’t be leading the world in oil and gas production.
“We produce more than most countries do.” If the Biden administration “stomps out #1, it cripples the rest of the world.”
Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, told The Center Square that “Domestic oil and natural gas produced in the United States, and largely right here in Texas, is the cleanest in the world. At a time when the Administration should be working with the industry to unleash America’s energy potential [it’s] making moves that ignore and even discourage progress while creating uncertainty that could constrain the energy development the nation and the world needs.”