Overwhelming majority of constituents in Fred Upton's, Mary Bono Mack's, Cory Gardner's, Adam Kinzinger's, Charlie Bass's, Leonard Lance's, Mike Doyle's, Charles Gonzalez's and Gene Green's districts: Let EPA do its Job!

Constituents in Upton's and Other House Districts: Let EPA Do its Job!

Print this page

by Pete Altman, Switchboard, February 10, 2011 

Share||

Yesterday members of Fred Upton's House Energy and Commerce Committee held theirfirst hearing on Chairman Upton's proposal to block the Environmental Protection Agency from updating Clean Air Act safeguards to protect our health from life-threatening carbon pollution. (Hat tip and bow to EPA Chief Lisa Jackson who withstood hours of Dirty Air Extremism from panel members, and didn't give one inch on the EPA's obligation to protect public health by limiting carbon pollution.)

We've already learned most Americans don't support various proposals to eliminate or block the Environmental Protection Agency, as Reuters, Time and USA Today have reported.

But what about the views of the voters in the districts of specific members of Congress? Say, voters in House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton's district? Dothey support blocking the EPA, as their own Congressman is proposing? What about voters in the districts of other Committee members who will have to vote on blocking the EPA in coming weeks?

Turns out, new polling shows that voters Chairman Upton's are not at all behind him on this, and the voters in eight other districts we looked at aren't either. Get the releasehere.

In fact, nearly two-thirds of Upton’s own constituents oppose his bill to block EPAfrom limiting carbon pollution.

Here's a quick scan of the Upton results:

• 67 percent -- including 60 percent of Republicans – agreed with the statement that “Congress should let the EPA do its job,” as opposed to the minority who believe that “Congress should decide” what actions are taken to curb carbon pollution. 

• 61 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.” 
• 57 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

You can read the full report on Upton's district here.

We also found solid majorities oppose Upton's proposal in the districts of eight other Committee members: Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif; Cory Gardner, R-Colo; Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Charlie Bass, R-N.H.; Leonard Lance, R-N.J.; Mike Doyle, D-Penn.; Charles A. Gonzalez, D-Texas; and Gene Green, D-Texas. You can view all the results in this single table here or look at individual reports, linked below. 

Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif. 

(559 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 4.1 percent)

• 59 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 53 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 56 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 51 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

(519 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 4.3 percent)

• 66 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 54 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 61 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 55 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Il.

(627 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 3.9 percent) 

• 72 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 63 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 66 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 61 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H.

(555 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 4.2 percent) 

• 67 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 65 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 64 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 61 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J.

(628 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 3.9 percent) 

• 74 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 70 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 72 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 69 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Penn.

(692 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 3.7 percent) 

• 74 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 77 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 73 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 74 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Charles A. Gonzalez, D-Texas

(506 voters interviewed February 4-6/margin of error: plus or minus 4.4 percent) 

• 71 percent say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 72 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 70 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 71 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas

(597 voters interviewed February 4-5/margin of error: plus or minus 4 percent)

• 64 percent   say “Congress should let the EPA do its job.”
• 72 percent say that “EPA needs to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.”
• 65 percent oppose the Upton proposal “that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide pollution.”
• 67 percent favor “the EPA setting new standards with stricter limits on air pollution.”

Next step for the Committee is to markup and vote on Chairman Upton's proposal to block the EPA (or as my colleague David Doniger writes, his proposal to put polluter profits ahead of public health.)

Let's see if the committee members pay attention to the views back home.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/voters_in_uptons_and_other_hou.html