On January 19th, President Obama announced his decision to deny an application by Trans-Canada for construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would have brought crude oil and tens of thousands of jobs from the tar sands of Alberta and North Dakota's Bakken field to refineries in Texas and Louisiana.
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich sacked Texas Tech global warming professor Katharine Hayhoe after radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh read an exclusive Climate Depot report on December 19 about Gingrich's collaboration with the professor. [See: Rush Limbaugh Features Climate Depot: 'Our old buddy Marc Morano, used to be 'Our Man in Washington' on my TV show, and now is a global warming expert. He's got a blog called Climate Depot' Limbaugh: 'According to Morano, Newt's book in 2013's gonna feature a chapter by a Texas Tech climate scientist named Katharine Hayhoe...Hayhoe is one of Newt's experts'] A Limbaugh listener who heard Limbaugh [...]
If ever there were a case study in the absurdity of industrial policy, the federal mandates for cellulosic ethanol should be exhibit number one.
A frequent refrain during budget and debt ceiling debates is that we need revenue enhancement: higher tax rates, reduced deductions, eliminated credits. But doing this, especially amid today’s massively expanding regulations, will kill more jobs and further reduce government revenues.There is a better way. Huge revenue sources are literally under our noses, or more precisely our feet.America is blessed with vast oil, gas, coal, uranium, rare earth and other natural resource riches – to compliment our ultimate resource: the creative, competitive, innovative spirit of our people.Finding and developing these resources would generate millions of jobs and billions, even trillions, in new [...]
By Steve MilloyThis article originally appeared in the Washington Times. The next month is a good time for Congressional Republicans to move beyond empty gestures to solve the job-killing and economy-slowing problem that is the Obama Environmental Protection Agency. Since January, the EPA has been implementing its greenhouse-gas regulations and has advanced an entire suite of regulations intended to make it painfully expensive for utilities to continue burning coal for electricity generation. Known as the "EPA train wreck," the regulations will force utilities to further reduce emissions of conventional pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides and mercury even though the [...]
We're about to lose our light bulbs. Among the many foolish things the political class in Washington has foisted on an unsuspecting public in recent years was the mandated phase-out of one of the most successful inventions in human history, the incandescent light bulb. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, passed by a Democratic Congress and signed into law by President Bush, set in motion a scheme to phase out the incandescent light bulb, replacing it with what the public was told were “more efficient” and “climate friendly” alternatives. Those who questioned the wisdom of the move were assured [...]
Caught flat-footed when the Obama administration’s controversial “wild lands” initiative was defunded under the recent Continuing Resolution (CR), environmental groups are vowing to fight to restore funds to the plan. It won’t be easy.As part of the budget deal negotiated between the White House and Capitol Hill to fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30, lawmakers denied the Interior Department any money to implement the wild lands scheme. Unveiled shortly before Christmas last year, the administration’s plan would have allowed the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to designate millions of acres of federal [...]
Six years after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its highly controversial Kelo v. City of New London decision, efforts to reign in the power of eminent domain continue to roll across the nation.In February, a Senate panel in Virginia narrowly approved a proposal to amend the state Constitution to redefine what is considered public use of private property. The measure, sponsored by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-Portsmouth) would also compensate home and business owners at a level near market value for the loss of their property through eminent domain.Joannou told the Virginia Statehouse News (Feb. 15) that his bill would protect [...]
Faced with a soaring federal deficit and a slumping economy, some Capitol Hill lawmakers have hit on an idea to deal with both: They want the federal government to begin selling off some of its vast estate.
The U.N. climate change panel, the IPCC, has lost credibility over the last few years in the wake of Climategate and other scandals. Now, U.S. Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer wants to stop funding it. Here he explains why: “My legislation would save taxpayers millions of dollars by prohibiting our government from funding the IPCC. The climate panel’s scientifically questionable findings have been used to support policies I believe would be economically disastrous for our country. Criticism of the IPCC has intensified since it was revealed that leading climate scientists were intentionally manipulating data. More than seven hundred scientists have now [...]
This article originally appeared in the National Journal's Cancun Insider.------------------------------ COP16 has come and gone. Every COP drags through two weeks of impotent spectacle while the real activity takes place behind closed doors. COP16 was no exception. Deals are struck and then rushed before the plenary session at the 11th hour. In Cancun the real action started 7 PM Friday night and lasted until 3 AM.On Thursday, the metaphor of the day was the climate talks zombie - an animated corpse which staggers along producing nothing, yet feasts upon the flesh of anyone constructive who blunders into its path. This was [...]
This article originally appeared in the National Journal's Cancun Insider. Cancun, Mexico--Ed Markey wonders, “Where do we go from here?” With any luck, COP 16 will be the last UN sponsored Climate conference, and we can all just go home, to spend time with our families and do something worthwhile with our hard-earned money. Maybe Canadians can process a bit of tar sands as well – and enjoy ever so slightly warmer Januaries, if the Earth would just warm a bit more, instead of continuing to cool and snow.After the fears of “global cooling” passed in the 1970s, alarmists quickly [...]
What am I missing? There must be some aspect of our insane energy policies that I fail to appreciate. “We the People” just booted a boatload of spendthrifts out of Congress, after they helped engineer a $1.3 trillion deficit on America’s FY-2010 budget and balloon our cumulative national debt to $13.7 trillion.The “bipartisan White House deficit reduction panel” chimed in with a 50-page draft proposal, offering suggestions for $3.8 trillion in future budgetary savings. The proposal targets $100 billion in Defense Department weapons programs, healthcare benefits and overseas bases. It also proposes a $13-billion cutback in the federal workforce and lining out [...]
Commisioner Hedegaard posed this question: "While some argue that the U.S. cannot afford climate and energy legislation, my question is: Can the U.S. afford not to have ambitious legislation that paves the way for a more energy-efficient future? We all know that we are in for a future where energy and resources will be still more expensive, and the companies and nations that are the most energy-efficient will prosper the most." CFACT Executive Director, Craig Rucker responded to her question. Commissioner Hedegaard's Denmark may have surrounded itself with wind turbines, but could not afford such feel good luxuries if it were [...]
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, members of the Congressional Western Caucus charge that environmental groups are using the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to recover legal fees arising from lawsuits that have brought against job-creating projects on federal land. Signed by 23 Republican senators and congressmen, the Nov. 20 letter alleges that taxpayer funds are being diverted from land management agencies to the coffers of wealthy environmental organizations. Enacted over 30 years ago, the EAJA to allow individuals, small businesses, and public interest groups with limited financial resources to seek reimbursements from the federal government for legal [...]