New Polling on Clean Energy and Permitting Reform
To: Interested Parties
From: Climate Power, Earthjustice, and Data for Progress
Date: May 3, 2023
Re: New Polling on Clean Energy and Permitting Reform
Summary
Following House Republicans’ vote last week to repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, permitting reform is once again a subject of national debate. With weather-induced power outages and energy price volatility still impacting people across this country, energy security continues to be top of mind for voters.
The choice between quickly building out the clean energy infrastructure of the future and protecting communities and safeguarding bedrock environmental laws is often presented as a binary choice, but recent polling from Climate Power, Earthjustice, and Data for Progress demonstrate that voters understand the need for both.
As permitting conversations continue in Congress and the White House, policymakers should look for solutions that quickly build the clean infrastructure of the future while ensuring that communities have a say in the projects impacting their homes and communities.
Climate Power, Earthjustice, and Data for Progress conducted a national survey from April 1-2, 2023, of 1,243 likely voters to assess their preferences surrounding permitting reform.
Key Takeaways
A few highlights:
More than three-quarters of voters (76 percent) favor maintaining existing environmental and health protections, regardless of whether they believe permitting reform should prioritize clean energy (52 percent) or fossil fuel energy projects (24 percent).
More than three-quarters of voters (78 percent) believe the U.S. should be doing more to strengthen its energy security, while a majority of voters (56 percent) think we should prioritize building out infrastructure for clean energy projects over fossil fuel ones in order to do so.
Community input on new energy projects is paramount to voters. An overwhelming 87 percent of voters across party lines believe it is very important or somewhat important to incorporate the concerns of communities potentially impacted by new energy projects in project planning and decision making.
The vast majority of voters (81 percent) across partisanship support the development of new energy transmission lines.