Government policymakers are often criticized for making the wrong decisions about energy. Voters’ erroneous beliefs may be part of the problem, a new study suggests.
The study, “Energy and the Environment: Myths & Facts,” was released Apr. 20 as a US House Energy and Commerce subcommittee prepared to hold 3 days’ of hearings on cap–and–trade proposals later in the week. Three days earlier, the US Environmental Protection Agency said in a proposed endangerment finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health (OGJ Online, Apr. 20, 2009).
“We think this is important because policymakers are moving fast and furious. I don’t care what the ultimate policy conclusions are as long as they base their actions on facts and consider all of the consequences,” Drew Thornley, who conducted the study for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MIPR), told me on Apr. 17.
“Prudent, sound public policies are rooted in reality, not theory or well–intentioned hopes. I don’t doubt that a lot of motivation for some of these folks is pure and good. I believe we can protect the environment while not hurting the economy. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive goals,” the independent energy policy analyst said in a telephone interview.
Still inaccurate
Zogby International surveyed 1,000 adults in January about 10 energy perceptions for the study as a follow–up to MIPR’s 2006 study on the same issue. The latest results show that many Americans still hold inaccurate views on energy issues.
For instance, 49% of the respondents said that Saudi Arabia exports the most oil to the US, while only 13% identified Canada as this country’s top foreign supplier. “This is Myth No. 1. We kept it from the 2006 survey because we felt it was so deeply entrenched,” Thornley said.
More than 67% said they believed the US could meet higher future energy demand through conservation and efficiency, he continued. Sixty–three percent said human activity is the greatest source of greenhouse gases. And less than 28% correctly believe that US air quality has improved since 1970.
Offshore drilling
The survey’s single bright spot came when 64.4% of the respondents said they favored expanded domestic offshore oil drilling while 31.8% opposed it. In a follow–up question, more than 42% of those expressing opposition said it was because the US uses too much oil.
“I think folks are beginning to realize that we literally sit on top of a lot of resources, which could lessen our dependence on foreign oil. We just can’t get to a lot of it, but we will go to cartels and ask them to increase their output. I don’t know of another country in the whole world that refuses to tap its abundant natural resources,” Thornley said.
“The hope of this project is that we can get away from myth–based policies and concentrate on facts,” he said, adding, “We’re not trying to take a position, just contribute something that informs the debate.”
