Energy & Climate Policy News

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    • Opinion

    Debunking Leonardo DiCaprio’s Climate Change Documentary

    Leonardo DiCaprio released his climate change documentary, “Before the Flood,” on National Geographic. The actor has become one the largest public faces pushing for action on man-made global warming. I make a brief cameo in the movie so several friends asked how I felt being lumped in with the climate deniers. (I’ll be setting up…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    How a Government Settlement Could Help VW Monopolize the Electric Vehicle Market

    Two top GOP lawmakers claimed Tuesday the massive legal settlement imposed on Volkswagen from last year’s fuel emission scandal will allow the company to corner the electric vehicle market. “VW may be able to obtain substantial competitive benefits, if not a monopoly on electric vehicle infrastructure, under the required investments,” Republican Reps. Fred Upton of…
    Chris White
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    • News

    Businesses Try Not to Sweat New Global Climate Change Rule

    The air conditioning and refrigeration industries are accustomed to change. Indeed, manufacturers had been bracing for an international climate regulation targeting them, and representatives of the industries even had a seat at the negotiating table. Global leaders last month celebrated completion of a deal to phase down worldwide emissions of chemical coolants called hydrofluorocarbons, or…
    Josh Siegel
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    • News

    Shuttered Nuclear Plants Aren’t Being Replaced by Green Energy

    Natural gas and other conventional energy sources are replacing power generated by shuttered nuclear reactors, according to federal energy data. Despite numerous claims that solar and wind power would replace nuclear sources, both wind and solar combined have historically replaced only a small fraction of shuttered capacity. The same pattern is expected to continue as…
    Andrew Follett
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    • Opinion

    Media Made Right Call to Ignore Climate Change in Debates

    To the dismay of some pundits, celebrities, and environmental activists, three presidential debates produced zero questions on global warming. Simply wishing an issue to be a priority won’t make it one. Americans and people around the world are apathetic to taking action on climate change. And for good reason. Chicken Littles have incorrectly predicted doomsday…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Linking Hurricane Matthew to Climate Change Is Overblown Hype

    Hurricane Matthew is big, dangerous, and (if it makes landfall) something not seen in the continental United States for a decade. This, of course, means it will be linked to global warming. There will be a lot of “scientists say we can expect,” but little actual data. That’s because the data show for the last…
    David Kreutzer
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    • News

    Obama, With Co-Star DiCaprio, Says Climate Change Skeptics Should ‘Pay Penalty’

    President Barack Obama, joined by actor Leonardo DiCaprio at the White House, warned Monday night that the world is running out of time to counter climate change and the U.S. government must make laggards “pay a penalty.” “It takes time to ramp up these new energy sources, and we are in a battle against time,”…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Alternative Energy Is Likely to See a Big Boost in Taxpayer-Funded Subsidies During Lame-Duck Session

    Members of Congress are preparing to be quite active during the lame-duck session. That’s good news for cronies who want to use the political system to secure handouts but bad news for taxpayers and the economy. The targeted tax credits Congress is considering include windfalls for hybrid solar lighting systems, fuel cells, geothermal, biomass, combined…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    DC School’s ‘Green Academy’ Selling False Hope With Renewable Energy Training

    Children are filtering back to school in the nation’s capital, but one school is getting students off on the wrong foot by promoting careers propped up on the backs of the taxpayer: renewable energy. H.D. Woodson High School has three career and technical education program tracks. Two of them line up with traditional educational training…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    What’s Wrong With the Government’s Mandating of Energy Efficiency

    The Obama administration’s Department of Energy has churned out a list of energy efficiency regulations before the next administration. Just since June, the DOE has set or initiated standards for dehumidifiers, ceiling fans, battery chargers, and wine coolers. At issue isn’t health or safety, or even unfair business practices. Through the DOE, the federal government is…
    Katie Tubb
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    • Opinion

    The Facts Show Louisiana’s Floods Not Caused by Man-Made Climate Change

    Is man-made global warming to blame for the heavy rainfall and flooding in Louisiana? Former Vice President Al Gore sure thinks so. And The New York Times ran a story with the title “Flooding in the South Looks a Lot Like Climate Change.” But the climate research suggests otherwise. Speaking in Houston to train more…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Why Low Oil Prices Might Increase Economic Freedom in the Persian Gulf

    The recent decline in oil prices has squeezed the finances of nations whose economies are dependent on oil exports. Even wealthy producers such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been forced to cut government spending significantly. Although that means their citizens will receive less free stuff from the state, it just might lead to more…
    Owen Morgan
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    • Opinion

    Consumers Pay Because Regulators Allow Natural Gas Use at This Solar Plant

    Consumers are getting burned by a taxpayer-subsidized solar power plant in California’s Mojave Desert. An immensely wealthy consortium owns the plant. Government regulators approved a contract forcing consumers to pay four to five times the going rate for electricity produced by the plant. And the energy, because of an inordinate use of gas, turns out…
    Reece Brown
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    • News

    Secret Deal Among AGs to Prosecute Climate Change ‘Deniers’ Challenged in Court

    By signing a “secrecy pact” with fellow Democrat attorneys general preparing to prosecute climate change skeptics, Rhode Island’s top law enforcement officer jeopardized free speech rights and government transparency laws, according to two legal organizations that have taken him to court. "They sought to write themselves out from open records laws their legislatures saw fit…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    A Workable Blueprint for Energy Freedom

    “Keep it in the ground.” That mantra of the Greens encapsulates the restrictive energy policies imposed by the Obama administration. But there’s a better approach: one that relies on the ingenuity of free enterprise to produce abundant, reliable, and affordable energy for all. That approach, rather than the restrictive, bureaucratically directed model favored by the…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    Senate Liberals, Targeting Climate Change ‘Deniers,’ Demand to Know Donors to 22 Think Tanks

    Some of the Senate’s most liberal Democrats, demanding that 22 national and state-based think tanks disclose their donors, disparaged them as being part of a network of free-market policy organizations the senators accuse of “laundering” identities while denying climate change exists. The existence of the conservative and libertarian policy research and education organizations, Senate Minority…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    What If the Government Actually Banned Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas?

    Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is not your typical teenager. The 16-year-old hip-hop artist and global warming activist with the nonprofit Earth Guardians has been dubbed the “anti-Bieber.” He “rallies supporters of every age and creed through school presentations, his unique brand of eco hip-hop, and heartfelt speeches,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Xiuhtezcatl, from Boulder, Colorado,…
    Elayne Allen
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    • Opinion

    These Climate Change Regulations Will Increase Your Electric Bill  

    Amid the summer heat, American households are thankful for affordable, reliable air conditioning. But the Obama administration’s war on coal is going to drive up energy prices for families who want to keep cool in the summer and stay warm in the winter. A recent study by Heritage Foundation economists estimates that the administration’s regulations…
    Elayne Allen
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    • News

    ISIS or Climate Change: Which Worries Democrats More?

    PHILADELPHIA—As delegates and other attendees came and went outside the Democratic National Convention, The Daily Signal asked some of them what issue they are more concerned about this election season—climate change or the threat of terrorism. Here’s what they had to say.
    Kelsey Bolar
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    • Opinion

    You Could Pay More to Fly Under This EPA Climate Change Rule

    Flying used to be a luxury only the rich could afford. Advances in the airline industry making travel more efficient and affordable have expanded the mobility of hundreds of millions of Americans. But a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency is likely to take air travel backward. The EPA on Monday released a final “endangerment…
    Katie Tubb
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