Energy & Climate Policy News

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    • Opinion

    Three Things Americans Should Know About the Stock Market Turmoil

    It’s too early to know if the stock market drop is just one of the periodic corrections by which the market reallocates capital to more profitable uses, or the start of a more dramatic contraction signaling a long-term decline. In any case, if the roller coaster ride of the last few days goes on much…
    Terry Miller
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    • Opinion

    Why Wind Energy Is Not Going to Meet All Our Energy Needs

    The Department of Energy released its annual Wind Technologies Market Report last week, and the headline is roughly the same as years past: wind is great…and getting greater, but it needs more federal subsidies. In fact, the Department of Energy and the wind industry have all but acknowledged the long-term un-competitiveness of wind. The DOE’s…
    Katie Tubb
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    • Opinion

    Why Young “Conservatives” for Energy Reform Aren’t What They Seem

    Earlier this year, the Young Conservatives for Energy Reform (YCER) co-hosted a “National Security and Energy Independence Reception” on Capitol Hill with the American Wind Energy Association. Four guest speakers, including two current senators, shared one thing: a desire to see continued government subsidization and favoritism in the energy markets. At last week’s annual Young…
    Joel Griffith
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    • News

    Obama’s Plan to Combat Climate Change, Explained in Under 90 Seconds

    In an effort to address climate change, the Obama administration has finalized a new rule designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s largest energy sources. The Clean Power Plan is the first set of national standards to cut carbon emissions, affecting new and existing power plants. The policy could force hundreds of coal-fired…
    Alex Anderson
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    • News

    Bernie Sanders: ‘Climate Change Is the Greatest Threat Facing the Planet’

    CONCORD, N.H.—Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders was endorsed by Friends of the Earth, a progressive political action committee fighting climate change, during a campaign stop in New Hampshire today. .@BernieSanders: “Climate change is the single greatest threat facing the planet.” pic.twitter.com/CQalmDUP9X — Kate Scanlon (@scanlon_kate) August 1, 2015 “I am very honored to receive the…
    Kate Scanlon
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    • Opinion

    Free Enterprise Returns to Mexican Oil

    After 80 years of exclusive state control, Mexico is finally liberalizing its oil industry. On July 15, the Mexican government began auctioning several shallow water oil blocks on the Gulf coast to investors, both domestic and foreign. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has made economic structural reform one of his primary objectives and these first…
    James M. Roberts
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    • Opinion

    Supreme Court Decision a Loss for Unelected Bureaucrats Trying to Drive Up Energy Costs

    The Supreme Court handed a victory to Americans concerned with unelected bureaucrats driving up energy costs by overturning a costly regulation that lacks any meaningful environmental benefit. With more regulations with similar high costs and meaningless direct benefits, now Congress and the states must step up to reject overzealous regulators—not rely on the courts. The…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Pope Francis’ Encyclical Is About More Than Climate Change. It’s About Culture.

    Today, Pope Francis released his encyclical letter, Laudato Si, “Praise be to you, my Lord,” on the theme of “care for our common home.” For weeks, partisans in the press have driven expectations that this would be a major missive on climate change. I’ve read all 180 pages of it, and it’s about much more…
    Ryan T. Anderson
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    • News

    Billionaire Environmentalist Pushes New Oil Tax in California

    In an effort to combat high gasoline prices in California, billionaire environmentalist activist Tom Steyer is pushing for a state ballot measure to pass an oil severance tax. Steyer, founder of NextGen Climate, announced support for the potential ballot measure earlier this month at the California Democratic Party convention. “I want to understand why Californians…
    Alex Anderson
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    • Opinion

    Oil Spill Was Bad, but It Is No Reason to Abandon Petroleum

    No doubt, the recent oil pipeline spill in California is a real mess, but it isn’t the end of the world or a reason to end use of petroleum. In fact, oil spills are not even the worst source of water pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency notes: “In the 2000 National Water Quality Inventory, states…
    David Kreutzer
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    • Opinion

    Obama’s Dangerous Thinking About Climate Change and National Security

    The White House has released a new report entitled “The National Security Implications of a Changing Climate,” essentially a summary of the administration’s view that climate change is a primary threat to the nation’s security. President Obama made the issue a central feature of his commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. “Climate change…
    Dakota Wood
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    • News

    How Jeb Bush Would Address Climate Change

    DUBUQUE, Iowa—In his first sit-down interview with The Daily Signal, Jeb Bush blames the “hard-core left” for trying to force its way on the issue of climate change. “The problem is climate change has been co-opted by the hard-core left and if you don’t march to their beat perfectly then you’re a denier,” Bush said…
    David Brody
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    • News

    House GOP Leader: Gas Tax Hike Not ‘Viable’ to Fund Highways

    House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tells The Daily Signal that a short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund is the likely solution before the measure expires by the end of the month. “We’re trying to find a bipartisan ‘pay for,’” McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a sit-down interview. “We might have to do a short-term one…
    David Brody
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    • Opinion

    Washington Is Mismanaging Your Gas Tax Dollars. Here’s Why States Should Have Control.

    Transportation funding could hit a dead-end at the end of the month. On May 31, the Highway Trust Fund’s authorization to pay for the nation’s highway and mass transit projects will expire. Even worse, the fund is running a $13 billion cash flow deficit this year and is expected to exhaust all its money sometime…
    Michael Sargent
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    • Opinion

    The Death of the Green Energy Movement

    The green energy movement in America is dead. May it rest in peace. No, a majority of American energy over the next 20 years is not going to come from windmills and solar panels. One important lesson to be learned from the green energy fad's rapid and expensive demise is that central planning doesn’t work….
    Stephen Moore
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    • Opinion

    Oil Production Is Up 53% Since 2010, But It’s Declining on Federal Lands. Here’s Why.

    Thanks to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling methods perfected at the end of last decade, production of crude oil in the United States has skyrocketed. This chart shows the swift takeoff in crude oil production. U.S. oil production is up 53 percent since 2010, but the increase has occurred almost entirely on non-federal lands. Production…
    Patrick Tyrrell
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    • Opinion

    New Report: Energy Department’s Loans, Loans Guarantees Costing Taxpayers $2.21 Billion

    Despite many politicians hailing green energy programs as a success, taxpayers are likely to take a $2.21 billion hit for the Department of Energy’s loan and loan guarantee programs, according to a new government study. If that weren’t bad enough, though, these taxpayer-backed programs have far-reaching, unseen costs to the American economy. A recently published…
    Nicolas Loris
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    • Opinion

    Media, Environmentalists Were Wrong: How the Gulf Coast Roared Back After Oil Spill

    Five years ago this week a blowout of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig 40 miles from the Gulf Coast tragically claimed 11 lives and spilled 3 million barrels of oil from the damaged wellhead into the Gulf. It’s hard to forget the video images of thick oil day after day gushing into the region’s waters….
    Stephen Moore
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    • Opinion

    Quadrennial Energy Review: A Plan to Buy Off the States

    The Obama Administration has revealed “the nation’s first ever Quadrennial Energy Review” (QER)—a first ever merely because the energy plans of past Administrations were titled “National Energy Plans” or “National Energy Strategies.” Although the QER promises jobs and economic growth, the review is largely a series of recommendations to buy off states to go along…
    Katie Tubb
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    • Opinion

    Out-of-State Billionaire Wages War on Affordable Energy in Nebraska

    I had the privilege of serving as mayor in the small, Shenandoah Valley town where my wife and I raised our children. So, I am keenly aware of concerns about powerful out-of-state or out-of-area interests trying to take advantage of a rural population. The Nebraskan battles over the Keystone XL pipeline and the Terex injection…
    David Kreutzer
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