Energy & Climate Policy News

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    Lawyers Make Millions Off Taxpayers, Endangered Species Act as Ranchers Try to Live With Rare Bird

    Feathers are flying over whether the federal government is overprotecting a rare bird in Colorado, in what critics grouse is an example of lawyers making millions while abusing the Endangered Species Act. Trial lawyers who collect taxpayer-funded fees under the law file so many suits that they undermine local conservation efforts in Western states, according…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    The Left’s Climate Change Hysteria

    In the latest bout of political theater, 19 congressional Democrats took the stage of the Senate floor Tuesday to attack free-market organizations for allegedly spinning a “web of denial” on global warming. Casting the right to free speech aside, the senators are spinning a web of climate hysteria and economic illiteracy. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.,…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    The Lifting of This Oil Ban Could Add 800,000 New Jobs

    Since Congress lifted the long-standing ban on crude oil exports, U.S. companies are taking advantage and Americans are reaping the benefits. This example shows how free market reforms can transform the energy sector and provide a massive boon to consumers. In June, CNN reported that the U.S. reached a sevenfold increase in oil exports to…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    House Science Panel Turns Up Heat on State AGs Over Ties to Climate Change Activists

    House Republicans are pressing efforts to safeguard the First Amendment rights of scientific skeptics who dissent from what they consider the Obama administration’s alarmist position on climate change, according to letters to 17 state attorneys general. The series of letters, sent Friday and signed by 17 of the 22 Republican members of the House Science,…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • News

    Rand Paul Waste Report Highlights $25 Million Climate Change Project

    Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., outlined the federal government’s decision to fund a multimillion-dollar Philippines disaster preparation project in a new edition of The Waste Report. According to the report titled, “Rising Tide of Waste in the Philippines,” “the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to invest as much as $24.7 million as part…
    Faith Vander Voort
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    • News

    Virgin Islands AG Withdraws Climate Change Subpoena Against Think Tank

    The U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general has revoked his subpoena of the free market think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute as part of an investigation into ExxonMobil Corp. and the energy company’s research about climate change. Claude E. Walker, the the Virgin Islands attorney general, is one of a 17-member network of state attorneys general who…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Costly Renewable Energy Regulations Prevent Our Military From Doing Its Job

    The Obama administration is aggressively defending costly renewable energy initiatives for the Department of Defense. By forcing its political agenda onto the military, the Obama administration prioritizes inefficient renewable energy initiatives at the expense of U.S. military strength and taxpayers. These requirements mandate that the Department of Defense produce or procure “not less than 25…
    Rachel Zissimos
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    • Opinion

    Why the Left Is Wrong to Demonize Affordable Energy

    Innovation is a wonderful thing but can also serve as a reminder of just how good we have it. Take the journey of the solar-powered plane, for example. The Solar Impulse 2 is an airplane powered by solar panels and uses batteries at night. In promotion of weaning the world off natural resources like oil…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    New York Times Promotes Myth That Man-Made Climate Change Refugees Exist

    The New York Times has declared the first American climate refugees. The article, published on May 2, tells the story of families living in southeastern Louisiana on the Isle de Jean Charles who will have to relocate (apparently due to man-made climate change). The article begins by warning that, “Around the globe, governments are confronting the…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Victim of AGs’ Climate Change Inquisition Fights Back

    The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has launched a fierce counter-attack against Claude Walker, the attorney general for the Virgin Islands, who recently served a subpoena on CEI demanding documents related to CEI’s research on global “climate change.” On April 20, CEI’s attorney, Andrew Grossman, filed a long and extensive objection to the subpoena and made…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • Opinion

    Obama’s Wrong: Climate Change Is Not Our Biggest Threat

    Throughout President Obama’s time in office, he and his cabinet officials have made claims that climate change is the greatest threat we face. Last year, Vox pressed the president on the matter, asking if he truly believes it is a greater threat than even terrorism. He responded by saying “absolutely,” and his press secretary Josh Earnest…
    Sen. Jim Inhofe
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    • Opinion

    Energy Bill Embodies Washington’s Backwards Thinking on Energy Policy

    The Senate will soon vote on a bipartisan energy bill. Introduced by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ark., and Marie Cantwell, D-Wash., the Energy Modernization Act illustrates the wrong approach Washington takes when it comes to energy policy. Proponents claim that the bill is non-controversial. But for those concerned about government interference in the energy sector, the…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Top 5 Reasons Congress Should Reject Obama’s Climate Change Treaty

    Secretary of State John Kerry will join leaders from around the world to sign the Paris Protocol global warming agreement this Friday at the United Nations headquarters. Here are the top five reasons Congress and the next administration should withdraw from the accord: 1) Higher energy bills, fewer jobs and a weaker economy. The economic…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • News

    Think Tank Announces It Will Fight Government’s Demands to Turn Over Climate Change Documents

    The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank, will oppose a subpoena that demands documents related to its research on climate change and donor information, officials of the institute said in a Tuesday afternoon phone call. “We’ve been targeted for our ideas,” Kent Lassman, the new president and CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
    Leah Jessen
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    • Opinion

    16 Democrat AGs Begin Inquisition Against ‘Climate Change Disbelievers’

    Beginning in 1478, the Spanish Inquisition systematically silenced any citizen who held views that did not align with the king’s. Using the powerful arm of the government, the grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, and his henchmen sought out all those who held religious, scientific, or moral views that conflicted with the monarch’s, punishing the “heretics”…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    Why This Governor Opposes a Bipartisan Bill to Subsidize Solar Energy

    Maine Gov. Paul LePage is fighting a bipartisan proposal designed to boost solar power development in the state by a factor of 12, arguing that it would benefit only the wealthy. At a business expo Thursday in central Maine, LePage, a Republican, warned that the solar power bill would increase electricity costs to 22 cents per kilowatt-hour. “If…
    Natalie Johnson
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    • Opinion

    US Law Should Now Prohibit Funding to UN Climate Change Convention

    On Dec. 18, 2015, the Palestinian Authority deposited its instrument of accession to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In accordance with Article 23(2) of the treaty, the Palestinians officially became the 197th party to the UNFCCC on March 17, 2016—ninety days after depositing their instrument of accession. As was the case when…
    Brett Schaefer
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    • News

    Science Agency Eyes Climate Change Professor’s Use of Millions From Taxpayers

    A federal science agency is “seriously” interested in reviewing tens of millions in taxpayer-funded grants awarded to a university professor who wants President Obama to prosecute those who don’t share the administration’s view that mankind is changing the world’s climate. The National Science Foundation’s inspector general appears poised to look into Jagadish Shukla’s management of…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    The Bizarre Reality of Venezuela’s Energy Crisis

    Venezuela is facing an electricity shortage so severe that President Nicolas Maduro extended the national Easter holiday by decree to decrease demand for it. The government is effectively shutting down the country for five days with the hopes of staving off an impending infrastructural collapse. That’s right: The country with the largest proven oil reserves in…
    Ricardo Pita
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    • Opinion

    Attorney General Lynch Looks Into Prosecuting ‘Climate Change Deniers’

    In news that should shock and anger Americans, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that not only has she discussed internally the possibility of pursuing civil actions against so-called “climate change deniers,” but she has “referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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