Energy & Climate Policy News

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    • Opinion

    Millions in Africa Being Sacrificed to Extreme Poverty, Premature Death on Altar of ‘Green Energy’

    Obama-era policies that favor so-called green energy over coal-fired electricity are dooming millions of Africans to lives of extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and increased risk of early death, according to a new analysis by the CO2 Coalition. The study by the Arlington, Virginia-based coalition of 60 climate scientists and energy engineers contends that inadequate access…
    Gregory Wrightstone
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    • Opinion

    Mexico’s Efforts to Undercut Oil Competition Should Concern US Policymakers

    A recently revealed memo from the president of Mexico, written by Mexican officials, highlights a deepening of statist economic policy in that country. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has purportedly directed authorities to further undo the 2014 energy liberalization by granting state-owned oil giant Petroleos de Mexico primary access to the country’s electrical grid—meaning,…
    Bernard Zitzewitz
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    • Opinion

    Top-Down White Penitence Is Shaking Up and Roiling the American Workplace

    A white physician working in Raleigh, North Carolina, says he has participated in multiple diversity training exercises—including two in the last two years—without a fuss. But he was taken aback when his employer, Duke University Health System, said this summer it will roll out a comprehensive strategy to purge the last vestiges of racism from…
    John Murawski
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    • Opinion

    Why California’s Natural Gas Appliance Bans Are Bad Economic and Environmental Policy

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom made headlines a few weeks ago when he signed an executive order to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. While the order is concerning for a number of reasons, there’s a more imminent threat of restrictions on affordable, reliable energy. Several cities in California and…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    The Facts About Climate Change and California Fires

    Despite some progress made by heroic firefighters, wildfires continue to tear through the West. Tragically, the fires have taken more than 30 lives (with many more missing), destroyed thousands of structures, and burned millions of acres. Here are answers to some of the commonly asked questions on causes for the wildfires and obstacles that stand in…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Bad Policies, Not Climate Change, Main Driver of California Fires

    This week, America’s West Coast found itself on fire. Millions of acres have burned across California, Oregon, and Washington. The smoke clouds have been so immense that they have blotted out the sun in certain areas; air quality has been so poor that hundreds of thousands of people have been forced indoors. There are several…
    Ben Shapiro
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    • News

    Portland Mayor Bans Police Use of Tear Gas After 100 Days of Rioting

    Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has banned the use of tear gas on rioters in the Oregon city. Wheeler, a Democrat who is also Portland's police commissioner, banned the use of tear gas munitions on rioters Thursday, despite ongoing riots that have surpassed the 100-day mark, a press release from his office says. Wheeler wrote that the Multnomah…
    Jake Dima
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    • News

    Pennsylvania Lawmakers Resist Governor’s Executive Actions on Climate Change

    If Pennsylvania joins a multistate agreement that restricts carbon dioxide emissions, the commonwealth could jeopardize its position as an energy producer and exporter without achieving discernible environmental benefits, according to elected officials who are resisting executive actions to address climate change.  The state Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to prohibit Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat,…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    Can Oil-Rich Guyana Avoid the Venezuela Curse?

    The battle for the future of economic freedom in Guyana is being waged right now.  Its gross domestic product growth has improved in anticipation of an oil boom that is now coming on stream. The oil revenues could transform the country, as a petrostate, into the fastest-growing economy in the region. Alternatively, the country could…
    James M. Roberts
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    • Opinion

    How the Electric Vehicle Tax Credit Forces Average Americans to Subsidize Rich Californians

    Congress in 2008 passed the Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit to make electric vehicles more affordable, thereby encouraging their use. Yet, a 2019 watchdog report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration showed the electric vehicle tax credit is rife with fraud and abuse, and electric vehicle incentives disproportionately benefit the wealthy….
    Donald van der Vaart
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    • Opinion

    Why Progressive Activists Want to Silence the Truth About Climate Change

    Climate activists continue to sound the alarm over carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Caleb Rossiter, the executive director of CO2 Coalition, an organization of climate scientists and experts who research and report the facts of climate change, joins the show to explain just how worried we really should or should not be about the…
    Virginia Allen
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    • Opinion

    Don’t Gaslight Us on #BelieveWomen

    Many of us were startled to open The New York Times last week and find ourselves accused of hijacking and weaponizing the phrase “believe all women.” According to journalist Susan Faludi, the phrase always has been “believe women,” and never has been associated with a demand for automatic and unquestioned belief that those who allege…
    Amy Swearer
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    • Opinion

    In Responding to Low Oil Prices, Patience Is a Virtue

    Sometimes the preferred policy solution is to do nothing at all.  Take the oil industry, for instance, where many of the proposals from federal and state policymakers would have done far more harm than good by distorting markets and harming consumers. America’s oil producers are by no means out of the woods yet, but the…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Don’t Expand Federal Energy Loan Programs. Unplug Them.

    Amid the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, some in Congress are calling for more stimulus programs to jump-start and sustain an economic recovery. Many policymakers are calling for it to be done in a climate-friendly way, which has renewed interest in the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. The Loan Programs Office offers taxpayer-backed loans…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    Jesse Jackson Stands up for Natural Gas Development in Struggling Community

    The Rev. Jesse Jackson is bucking many of the environmentalists who believe natural gas production perpetuates a world in which climate change is disproportionately hurting black communities. Jackson is prodding local, state, and federal officials in Illinois to OK the construction of a $8.2 million, 30-mile natural gas pipeline built for a community, Axios noted in a report…
    Chris White
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    • Opinion

    Why Eco-Warriors’ Bid to Ban Natural Gas Appliances Is Wrongheaded

    Could the 80-year-old phrase “Now we’re cooking with gas” soon become a relic of the past? Several cities are studying proposals to restrict the use of natural gas in commercial and residential buildings as a way to combat climate change. In the latest push to ban natural gas appliances in homes, a Sierra Club-commissioned report…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    Ocasio-Cortez Deletes Tweet Hailing Oil Price Crash That Risks Big Job Losses

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted—and then quickly deleted—comments that appeared to show adulation over the price of oil dipping below $0 a barrel, which will ultimately lead to job losses. Ocasio-Cortez on April 20 reacted gleefully at news that the price of oil had dropped below $0, saying that such a milestone would mean the United States…
    Jason Hopkins
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    • Opinion

    What Collapsing Oil Prices Mean for America

    Warmer weather usually means more people getting out and driving—to stores, restaurants, baseball games, or sometimes, just to drive. Projections that gas prices could soon fall below $2 per gallon would usually be cause for celebration. But these aren’t usual times, are they? The reality is the implications for the U.S. economy are unclear. They…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    A Misguided Approach to Nuclear Power in ‘Energy Innovation’ Bill

    Being “well intentioned” isn’t the same as doing well. Look no further than the recently introduced American Energy Innovation Act. The bill proposes an extensive federally funded and directed research, development, and demonstration program for advanced nuclear technologies through the Department of Energy. It’s Act 2 of the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, the first half…
    Katie Tubb
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    • Opinion

    Senate’s ‘Energy Innovation’ Bill Wasteful, Redundant

    When you think of the word “innovation,” what comes to mind?  Maybe it’s something new and inventive—or something cutting edge, original, and creative. Or, if you’re in Washington, “innovation” is trotting out the same, stale approaches to policy that have done less to empower innovators and families and more to empower special interests. The latest…
    Nicolas Loris
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