Energy & Climate Policy News

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    • News

    Climate Change Alarmism Is ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out,’ Retired NASA Physicist Says

    HOUSTON—Unvalidated climate models that don’t correspond with physical data and the requirements of the scientific method contribute to unfounded climate alarmism, a retired NASA physicist said at the Heartland Institute’s recent America First Energy Conference. Since America’s national security depends in part on energy security, unsubstantiated claims about global warming that prevent policymakers from making…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    Podcast: The Inanity of Climate Change Activists Protesting Trump

    The Paris Agreement would have resulted in dire economic consequences for the U.S.—and wouldn’t have significantly affected the earth’s temperature. Yet, at a conference in Germany this month, President Donald Trump and his administration came under fire for the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. On today’s podcast, we discuss that, the result of…
    Katrina Trinko
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    • Opinion

    The Ethanol Mandate Promotes Swamp Dominance, Not Energy Dominance

    Washington is known for political arm-twisting. There’s a good reason for that. It too often works, and it helps prop up bad policies like mandates to blend corn-based ethanol and other biofuels into our fuel supply. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed cutting the volumetric requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standard. The reductions were…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Tax Reform Bill Moves Closer to Free-Market Energy Policy

    The GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act makes a profound policy statement that is to be commended: The goal of the bill’s energy measures is “to move closer to a free-market energy agenda.” Free markets supply affordable energy, innovation, and a clean environment better than any heavy-handed regulatory approach to manipulate how people produce and…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Foiled Plot in Miami Is 99th Terror Plot Against US Since 9/11

    The Department of Justice charged Vicente Adolfo Solano last week with attempting to use an explosive device at a Miami mall. Solano had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. This case represents the 99th Islamist terrorism plot or attack against the U.S. homeland since 9/11. A confidential informant with the Drug…
    David Inserra
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    • Opinion

    Largest Oil and Gas Lease Sale in History a Major Win for US Energy

    President Donald Trump has vowed to make the U.S. more energy dominant than ever, and the Interior Department took an important step toward that goal this week. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced on Tuesday that his department is proposing the largest oil and gas lease sale ever held in the United States. In March 2018,…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    California Governor Vows to Sue Trump Over Climate Change

    California Gov. Jerry Brown plans to use what he calls a Republican tactic and sue the Trump administration over President Donald Trump’s climate change policies. Brown, a virulent Trump opponent, told reporters Tuesday that he will sue the president for nixing the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation Republicans believe hurt the coal industry. He…
    Chris White
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    • Opinion

    Foiled Terror Plot Raises Number of Plots, Attacks to 98 Since 9/11

    The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges earlier this month against three men for plotting to attack New York City in 2016. The plotters were arrested at different times in 2016 and 2017, in different parts of the world. Since this plot occurred in the past and the first plotter was arrested in May of last…
    David Inserra
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    • Opinion

    New Bill Would Stop Energy Department From Risking Taxpayer Money

    This week, Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, introduced the DOE Loan Program Repeal Act, which would prohibit the Department of Energy from offering new government-backed loan guarantees for energy projects. Weber’s bill would not only protect taxpayers, but would also prohibit government intervention that enables industry dependence on subsidies and empowers Washington to direct the flow…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    PennEast Pipeline Backers Tout Lower Energy Prices in Fighting Well-Funded Green Groups

    Anyone traveling along the roadways that run parallel to that part of the Delaware River where George Washington staged his famous Christmas night crossing in 1776 is sure to encounter signs that take aim at an energy project known as the PennEast Pipeline. Some of those signs invoke revolutionary language with statements that claim “We…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    In the Face of Evil, Americans Rush to Help Each Other in Las Vegas

    The mass shooting that took place as Jason Aldean sang during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday night was a demonstration of what evil men can do to fellow human beings. There were immediate calls to politicize the event, but Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, had a great response that many…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • News

    Investigators Reluctant to Call Vegas Massacre an Act of Terror

    It’s probably too early to judge whether the massacre at a concert in Las Vegas should be characterized as an act of domestic terrorism, government officials and experts say. The Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS, claimed credit Monday for the gunman who opened fire late Sunday night from above a country…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Gunman Kills at Least 58 in Las Vegas, Thought to Be ‘Lone Wolf’

    In what authorities are calling the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a gunman killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 500 Sunday night at an outdoor country music concert in Las Vegas by firing from the 32nd floor of a hotel. The number of deaths—updated from 50 to 58 about 11:30…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    The Myth That Climate Change Created Harvey, Irma

    Flooding in homes and businesses across Houston was still on the rise when Politico ran a provocative article, titled “Harvey Is What Climate Change Looks Like.” Politico was not alone, as another news outlet called the one-two punch of Harvey and Irma the potential “new normal.” Brad Johnson, executive director of the advocacy group Climate…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    This ‘Endangered Species’ Story Was Government-Sponsored Fake News

    Leave it to the federal government to make a costly mistake, obscure it for decades at taxpayer expense, and then try to claim it was a success. In 2016, Johnston’s frankenia—a wiry, blue-green, roughly 1 to 2-foot-tall shrub with tiny oblong leaves—was taken off the endangered species list. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species…
    Rob Gordon
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    • News

    Group Sues Vermont AG for Withholding Emails About Climate Crusade Against Oil Groups

    Vermont is refusing to comply with a court order forcing officials to release communications about the state’s supposed involvement in a climate inquisition against fossil fuel groups, a conservative legal group said Monday. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan denied conservative group E&E Legal’s request for communication between former Attorney General William Sorrell and New York…
    Chris White
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    • News

    Lawmakers Seek Overhaul of Endangered Species Act to Ease Harm to Farmers, Ranchers

    Lawmakers are leading an effort to do away with endangered species regulations that they say hurt farmers and ranchers without benefiting the targeted wildlife. Reps. Mike Johnson, R-La., and Paul A. Gosar, R-Ariz., headlined a letter Tuesday to leaders of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, asking for their…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • News

    Al Gore Likens the Climate Change Movement to Campaign Ending Slavery

    Former Vice President Al Gore compared the fight to end man-made global warming to the abolishment of slavery and the push for gay marriage. “The abolition of slavery, woman’s suffrage … and more recently the gay rights movement,” Gore said Thursday about the importance of staying ahead of the curve on environmental issues. The mission to reduce the…
    Chris White
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    • Opinion

    How Fossil Fuels Will Help Us Confront Climate Change

    The debate over climate change policy pits two competing visions of the future against each other. On the one hand are the “true believers,” who see in global warming an existential threat to humanity. They want to slow the rise in temperature as soon as possible, and as much as possible. Their policy prescriptions focus…
    Terry Miller
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    • Opinion

    America’s Energy Dominance Won’t Sacrifice Environmental Quality

    President Donald Trump declared during energy week that the United States would “usher in a golden age of American energy dominance.” From rolling back egregious offshore drilling restrictions and power plant regulations to a policy review to revive nuclear energy, the Trump administration is making important headway to unleash America’s vast energy resources. But energy…
    Nicolas Loris
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