Huge Majority of Latinos Concerned About the Air Pollution, Environmental Issues - Poll
According to a new poll conducted by Latino Decisions, a majority of Latinos think that going green is a good idea.
The poll, which gathered responses from 1,200 registered Latino voters, states that 85% of those surveyed saw that reducing smog and air pollution was an “extremely” or “very important” thing to do and that 78% supported state mandated clean energy standards in order to prevent global warming and climate change.
A press release from the Environmental Defense Fund suggests that this information should come as no surprise as “Latinos have rich ties to the outdoors, but are too often the first and worst impacted by pollution.”
Gary Segura, a co-founder of Latino Decisions, describes the reasons behind the results to NPR, saying, "A lot of Latino households in the United States are in locations that are adversely affected by particulate pollution, by poor water quality."
The EDF is happy to note that recent initiatives like the EPA methane rule and the Clean Power Plan will do much to positively impact the air quality for Latino communities. Billed as a “historic and important step in reducing carbon pollution from power plants,” the Clean Power Plan, which establishes the first ever set of national limits on carbon pollution from power plants, has been met with criticism.
Several months back Investor's Business Daily reported on a study commissioned by the National Black Chamber of Commerce, which found that the Clean Power Plan would lead to lost jobs, lower incomes and to higher poverty rates for 128 million blacks and Hispanics living in the United States. Robert Bryce of the National Review bluntly summed up the plan, saying, “It’s going to increase electricity prices, and that will be bad for the poor and the middle class.”
Claims that the Clean Power Plan would hurt Latinos and drive up energy bills were refuted by the EDF, which encouraged Latino communities to “demand a place at the table and advocate for states to act now” in order to ensure that the benefits of the Clean Power Plan would be shared by everyone.
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