A growing number of Americans want the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as the largest oil spill in U.S. history helps boost interest in petroleum alternatives, a poll by two universities found on Tuesday. About 77 percent of 1,204 Americans polled support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, up 6 percentage points from January, according to the poll by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities. The oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 rig workers and has plagued fishing and coastal tourism from Texas to Florida was a factor, researchers said. "The BP oil disaster is also reminding the public of the dark side of dependence on fossil fuels, which may be increasing support for clean energy policies," said Anthony Leiserowitz, the director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

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