As Congress considers the fate of renewable energy tax credits and whether to open more areas to oil drilling, the majority of Americans want the next president to use taxes to develop green energy programs instead of coal, nuclear power, and offshore drilling, a survey released September 25 shows. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said the nation’s number one energy priority should be to develop wind and solar power, hybrid vehicles and other fuel efficient cars, and greater energy conservation. This is compared to 29 percent who favored promoting further development of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Only 10 percent thought no change was needed in federal energy policy, according to the survey by Opinion Research conducted for the non-profit groups Civil Society Institute and CLEAN.org. According to their websites, the organizations want to move ahead with wind and other renewables, particularly on the East Coast. Separate surveys of residents in the coal producing states of West Virginia and Kentucky found similar attitudes. In the survey, 92 percent said they saw solar power as a source of “tomorrow” and 88 percent said the same about wind power. Nuclear power also was viewed positively as a future source of energy, with 71 percent of respondents calling it a source of tomorrow. Coal and oil largely were viewed as energy sources of “yesterday.”