Conservatives and Environmental Protection?

John's last two posts ('Environmentalists boycott ExxonMobil' but do boycotts work? and More on oil prices from Econbrowser) have raised an intersting question (at least in my mind).  Do we want high gas prices or low gas prices?  It seems like both sides of the oil/energy debate face an interesting paradox.  High gas prices would seem to place a greater burden on those with lower incomes.  Which party (at least in the US) is viewed as advocates for the middle and lower classes and often argues for reducing the burden on these classes?  Isn't this the same party that is viewed as the protector of the environment?  In which case, wouldn't they advocate higher gas prices to increase the incentive to switch to cleaner technologies?  On the opposite side of the aisle, would the other party advocate higher gas prices to put money in the pockets of big business?  But don't those higher prices look an awful lot like incentives to switch to cleaner fuels/technologies (as the economic models predict).  Could this be a case where a policy stance (or lack thereof) benefits both big business and the environment?  Just a thought.