The Washington Post
June 27, 2013
June 27, 2013
Most small business owners support some of the climate control and clean energy plans outlined this week by the Obama administration, according to a poll released Thursday.
More than three-fourths (79 percent)
of small employers think the the government should set a national goal to
increase energy efficiency by half
over the next decade, and nearly twice as many believe government incentives
for clean energy innovation should be a high or top priority than believe they
should be a low or non-priority.
The results are part of a report
released by the American Sustainable Business Council, a business advocacy and
research organization. David Levine, the group’s chief executive, noted that
most of the responses did not vary based on respondents’ political persuasions.
“Small business owners across the country
and across the political spectrum believe that clean energy makes sense not
only for the environment, but it makes good business sense, too,” Levine said
in an interview. “There’s a recognition that these clean energy policies really
are better for their financial bottom lines.”
During a speech in Washington on
Tuesday, Obama announced several ambitious proposals
aimed at reversing recent climate changes and making the country more
self-sufficient. Most notably, he ordered the Environmental Protection Agency
to limit carbon dioxide emissions for coal- and gas-powered utilities by 2015.
“I refuse to condemn your generation
and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing,” Obama told students
during the event at Georgetown University.
Small business owners
support that objective, too. Nearly two-thirds think the EPA should cap
emissions in existing power plants, including 86 percent of Democrats and 54
percent of Republicans.
More than half of employers believe
the government should also encourage banks to consider environmental criteria
when evaluating loan applications and
investment opportunities, according to the poll, which was based on 515
responses from employers with fewer than 100 employees. Sixty-three percent
support a government mandate that would require 20 percent of electricity to be
generated from sustainable energy sources.
It’s a slightly surprising stance
from a group that is often considered purely anti-regulations and
anti-government involvement, but one small business owner noted
that these rules would mainly affect large energy and electricity producers,
not firms on Main Street.
Susan Labandibar, president of Tech
Networks of Boston in South Boston, Mass., added that devastation from recent
natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy and the
twisters in the Midwest, has probably prompted some small employers to take
climate shifts more seriously.
“Small businesses are uniquely
vulnerable to severe weather events, and there has been a huge amount of
disruption from some of these storms,” Labandibar said, noting that her own
firm was hit hard by Sandy.
Meanwhile, Levine says the
overarching “businesses-hate-regulations” notion has been fueled by policy
discussions that have more to do with political sparring than reviving the
economy.
“This shows that, when you ask some
of these questions outside of the political arena, you get a different take
than what you hear in Congress,” he said. “We need to change the dialogue in
Washington, and get away from party-line rhetoric and talk more about what’s
actually good for business and what’s actually good for the economy.”+(124x76).jpg)
