According to new polling by the National Mining Association, conducted by Maru/Blue, the vast majority of Americans support an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes coal and are concerned that the rush to transition to renewable energy is going to sacrifice our ability to keep the lights on.
The data show growing concern for the impact of the speed of the transition on electricity reliability:
- 78% of Americans support an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes coal (just 10% do not support and 12% don’t know).
- 72% of Americans are concerned about the speed of the transition’s impacts on reliability (18% are not concerned and 11% don’t know). This number is up from 52% in May 2023, the last time the NMA polled on this question.
- 65% believe we should pause closures of existing, well-operating power plants until replacement generating capacity is in place and operational (17% disagree and 17% don’t know). This is up from 56% in May 2023, the last time the NMA polled on this question.
The new polling, which was conducted February 26-28, 2024, from 1,502 Americans, carries a +/-2.5% margin of error. The results have been weighted by age, gender, race and region to match the population according to Census data which ensures the sample is representative of the entire adult population. Discrepancies in or between totals when compared to the data tables are due to rounding.
“The EPA is working to hijack our nation’s energy policy through irrational and unattainable compliance measures that are forcing well-operating power plants into premature retirement. Compounding the problem, the EPA is now putting all of our reliability eggs in one basket – natural gas – doubling down on the grid’s greatest reliability vulnerability,” said Rich Nolan, NMA president and CEO, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to target coal plants and exempt natural gas plants from its forthcoming emissions rule.
“Without reliable generation and enabling transmission infrastructure to replace it, experts are warning of energy rationing and blackouts, and this polling shows more and more Americans are aware of those risks, are concerned and want the administration to change course.”
Source: National Mining Association