Herman Cain on the EPA

Businessman and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain called for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency at the Google/Fox News debate, which took place in Orlando, Florida on September 22, 2011.

Question: My question is, if you were forced to eliminate one department from the federal government, which one would you eliminate and why? Thank you.

Herman Cain: The first - the first department, if I were forced to eliminate a department, I would start with the EPA and start all over.

It's out of control.

Now, I know that makes some people nervous, but the EPA has gone wild. The fact that they have a regulation that goes into effect January 1, 2012, to regulate dust says that they've gone too far.

So rather than try to fix it, eliminate all of the things that they have right now and then start rebuilding a responsible EPA.

In advance of the Google/Fox News debate, the League of Conservation Voters released a new public opinion poll demonstrating strong bipartisan support for EPA action to curb global warming pollution:

Support for "the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requiring reductions in carbon emissions from sources like power plants, cars and factories in an effort to reduce global warming pollution" is wide-spread and broad-based.  Majorities of a wide range of key voter sub-groups support this, including:

Among Republicans (55 percent support), Independents (72 percent support), and Democrats (89 percent support); and

Among viewers of CNN (87 percent support), MSNBC (86 percent support), ABC/CBS/NBC (81 percent support), and Fox News (49 percent support).

Fox News also asked viewers at home to respond to the question, “If you had to cut a government department, what would you cut?” Only 12 percent of viewers said they would cut the EPA.