Energy & Climate Change Policy News

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  • news

    Lawmakers Probe Taxpayer-Funded Academic Who Wants Obama to Prosecute Climate Change Skeptics

    Taxpayer-funded college professors and researchers who cite climate change to advocate regulations that would raise energy costs for consumers have some explaining to do, congressional investigators say. A House committee wants to know more about the relationship between taxpayer money received by the academics and their urging of President Obama to use federal racketeering law…
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  • opinion

    Climate Change True Believers Want to Silence Other Viewpoints

    Debate. It’s the hallmark of an open society. We may hold different points of view on a certain topic, but we can express those views freely, without fear of repercussions. Unless, that is, you dare to question the idea of man-made global warming. That, apparently, puts you beyond the pale. You can insist that the…
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  • opinion

    Skeptical Climate Change Is Real? These 20 Academics Think You Should Be Prosecuted.

    Are you skeptical of human-caused global warming or climate change like many respected scientists and climate experts? Then you should be prosecuted like a Mafia mob boss, according to 20 academics at ivory towers like Columbia, Rutgers, and the University of Washington. Apparently, these professors either don’t believe in the First Amendment or are profoundly ignorant…
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  • opinion

    How Obama Is Planning to Bypass Congress on International Climate Change Regulations

    It’s almost winter in Paris, and soon the City of Lights will be blanketed beneath a heavy layer of foreign bureaucrats and climate change negotiators. On November 30, hundreds of unelected representatives of international powers will descend under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). According to recent press reports,…
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  • opinion

    Climate Change Is Not a National Security Issue

    On Monday, Oct. 5, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change released its most recent draft of a global climate change agreement ahead of the 2015 Paris World Climate Summit to “support the global response to the urgent threat of climate change by further addressing its causes and by further increasing resilience and the ability…
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  • news

    California Governor Vows to Override Democrat-Led Legislature on Climate Change Regulations

    Jerry Brown isn’t used to losing in the California Legislature. And even though defections from a raft of fellow Democrats in Sacramento forced the second-term governor to abandon two sweeping anti-carbon measures, Brown vows to implement them anyway—through executive order. “I’d say oil has won a skirmish, but they’ve lost the bigger battle, because I am…
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  • opinion

    Why Democrats Are Wrong to Use the Crude Oil Export Ban as a Bargaining Tactic

    The House Energy and Commerce Committee has passed a bill to lift America’s decades-long ban on crude oil. Three Democrats joined all of the Republicans in passing the bill out of committee, 31-19. The bill now goes to the full House for passage. The White House opposes the bill, with spokesman Josh Earnest saying: This…
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  • news

    Lowest Gas Prices for Labor Day Weekend in 11 Years

    Good news for those loading up the Tahoe to get out of town this Labor Day weekend: Gas prices are at a record low. The national average for gasoline prices dropped to $2.44 on Thursday, according to gas-pricing site GasBuddy.com. Friday’s national average sits at $2.42 per gallon. This marks the lowest price at the…
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  • opinion

    Obama Is Ignoring the Science on Climate Change

    President Obama gave a doom and gloom speech yesterday at the Global Leadership in the Arctic (GLACIER) conference in Alaska to build momentum for the U.N. climate deal in Paris this December. So far less than one third of countries have submitted plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by the Wall Street Journal’s count. According…
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  • news

    Jim Inhofe on What the Left Gets Wrong About Climate Change

    Sen. Jim Inhofe is no stranger to the climate change debate. The Oklahoma Republican, who leads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, believes that government and regulation are a big problem. In an interview with The Daily Signal, Inhofe explained why people should care about the climate debate and what prompted him to bring…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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