A Senate committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on President Obama’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. And according to a poll released today, nominee Gina McCarthy is supported by a narrow majority of small business owners.The Small Business Majority is a national group that advocates for policies that favor small businesses. The group commissioned a poll by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, which asked small business owners how they felt about various environmental policies, as well as whether they support former EPA Air Administrator Gina McCarthy’s nomination to lead the federal agency.Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer says once the poll respondents were briefed on McCarthy’s qualifications, most said they would support her.“Fifty-eight percent of small business owners support her nomination based on her bipartisan experience and her work with business and industry leaders,” he said.Arensmeyer says 65 percent of the small business owners polled support EPA rules to reduce toxic emissions from power plants, and 69 percent support increasing vehicle fuel efficiency standards. The majority is slimmer when it comes to the EPA’s efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants—only 52 percent support that policy.If Gina McCarthy’s nomination passes the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the matter will move before the full Senate.
