Energy & Climate Change Policy News

The Daily Signal provides stay informed on U.S. energy production, renewable energy, and climate change policy, featuring analysis of government regulation, industry innovation, and the impact on American consumers and national interests.
Filter articles by
  • news

    State Gave $69 Million Loan to Green Energy Company on Verge of Bankruptcy
    Biofuel manufacturer KiOR’s financial struggles might leave Mississippi holding the title to another failed green energy project. According to the company’s quarterly report, without additional financing KiOR won’t be able to meet its financial obligations past Sept. 30. One of its biggest creditors is the state of Mississippi. The company owes the state $69.275 million on a no-interest loan…
    Steve Wilson
    Read More
  • news

    Would You Volunteer to Pay for Solar Energy? It’s Happening in Florida.
    TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—If you don’t use solar power, then you won’t have to pay for it. That’s what the Florida Public Service Commission, the state electric utility regulatory body, decided last week when it approved Florida Power and Light’s new solar energy pilot program by a vote of 4-1. The plan will expand customer access to solar power in…
    William Patrick
    Read More
  • news

    Raw Footage: Tear Gas Blasted at TV Reporters in Ferguson
    Police in Ferguson, Mo., fired tear gas at Al Jazeera America TV crews last night as they recorded footage of the violent protests over the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. According to KSDK.com, “police took down the crew’s light kit, and pointed their camera at the ground” minutes later. >>> Overmilitarization: Why Law Enforcement Needs to…
    Daily Signal Staff
    Read More
  • news

    Here’s How New Mexico Made the Leap Into Top 5 Oil-Rich States
    Move over, Oklahoma. New Mexico has regained its position as the fifth-highest state in terms of oil production in the country. In an annual report of the top 10 oil states put together by the financial website 24/7 Wall St., New Mexico supplanted Oklahoma with 965 million barrels of proven oil reserves. That’s an 11.4 percent increase…
    Rob Nikolewski
    Read More
  • opinion

    Unlocking Energy Opportunity in Africa
    Visiting America for the U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit last week, heads of African nations had plenty to say about the need to increase access to reliable, affordable energy. Yet some are trying to dissuade African investment in conventional energy sources such as coal and natural gas in an effort to stave off global warming. Roughly 550…
    Katie Tubb | Hanna Hebert
    Read More
  • opinion

    We’d Have an Energy Boom … If the Government Got Out of the Way
    There’s been something of an energy boom taking place in the U.S. over the past few years, and it’s given the American economy a real boost. Now we just need the federal government to get out of the way and open opportunities to freely trade energy, and those benefits will grow substantially. U.S. coal exports…
    Nicolas Loris
    Read More
  • opinion

    Ghana Woes a Warning to Other Oil-Rich African Countries
    African leaders are in Washington this week for the White House–sponsored U.S.–African Leaders Summit, a meeting of nearly 50 African heads of state meant to promote trade and investment. But for Ghana, the optimism surrounding the conference and a second U.S. aid compact have been drowned out by economic troubles at home. One of West…
    Ryan Olson
    Read More
  • opinion

    Energy: U.S. Should Pay Attention to Mexico’s Reforms
    In recent years, the United States has seen a huge oil and natural gas boom fueled by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and horizontal drilling. Now, American energy companies may have the opportunity to put their expertise into practice in a new energy market: Mexico. Mexico recently passed a series of energy reforms that ended the 75-year-long…
    Andrea Rodriguez
    Read More
  • news

    Wind Farms Divide Environmentalists: Renewable Energy vs. Dead Birds
    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Paul Domski is a falconer and a bird lover. And he seriously doesn’t like wind farms or the federal government’s recent decision to protect wind energy companies from punishment for 30 years for killing eagles. “If I was the country’s energy czar, I’d get rid of [wind farms],” said Domski, who also is the…
    Rob Nikolewski
    Read More
  • opinion

    Dallas Fed Makes Case for Crude Oil Exports
    The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank made the case for why policymakers should lift the ban on crude oil exports: Removing the export ban would eliminate a variety of marketplace distortions by increasing the price of crude oil in the interior U.S. to better reflect global levels, leading to a more efficient economic outcome. While this…
    Nicolas Loris
    Read More
  • opinion

    Ignore the New Obama Administration Report on Climate Change Action
    The Obama administration released Tuesday a new report warning that with accelerating climate change comes accelerating costs: Costs will increase by 40 percent each decade of inaction on climate change. The report fails to mention, however, that the administration’s climate policies come with much steeper price tags. Nor is there any action that will actually…
    Nicolas Loris
    Read More
  • news

    ‘No Way’ Obama’s Climate Change Plan Will Reduce Temperatures, Says Rep. Mike Kelly
    Following a speech about extremism at the Environmental Protection Agency, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., called the Obama administration’s climate change proposal a “public relations piece.” He told The Daily Signal there’s “no way” the administration’s current plan will reduce global temperatures and warned of the “unintended consequences” for the American people.
    Kelsey Bolar | Alex Anderson
    Read More
  • news

    One of the World’s Biggest Sources of Oil Is Right Here in America
    SANTA FE, N.M.—Oil production in New Mexico keeps on booming, and it could continue to do so for some time. “I think the forecast is great,” said Parker Hallam, president and CEO of Crude Energy in Dallas. “I’m excited.” The Permian Basin, located in eastern New Mexico and West Texas, recently has become one of the world’s…
    Rob Nikolewski
    Read More
  • news

    Debate: Are Obama’s Climate Change Actions Helping or Hurting?
    President Obama promised he wouldn’t wait for Congress to combat climate change, vowing to use executive action wherever possible. One year later, are Obama’s actions helping or hurting? That was among the topics debated by David Kreutzer, research fellow in energy economics and climate change at The Heritage Foundation, and Daniel Weiss, senior vice president…
    Katherine Telford
    Read More
  • opinion

    Cartoon: How to ‘Grow’ Gas Prices
    >>> This Standard Is One Reason the Price of Gas Will Increase
    Glenn Foden
    Read More
  • news

    $6 a Gallon? Where Gas Prices Might Be Without the U.S. Energy Boom
    If you think the price of gas is high, imagine paying up to $6 a gallon. That’s what energy expert Dan Steffens thinks the price could be if not for the domestic oil boom. “With what’s going on the Middle East, I think it would five or six bucks [a gallon],” said Steffens, president of the…
    Rob Nikolewski
    Read More
  • news

    Gas Prices Will Climb, and You Can Blame Corn
    JOHNSTON, Iowa — Most of what Tim Maher knew about the renewable fuel standard came from TV commercials. “They all talk about how it’s good for the environment and good for the country because we won’t have to import so much oil from the Middle East,” Maher said as he was filling up his car…
    Paul Brennan
    Read More
  • opinion

    What Obama Has Wrong on Climate Change
    President Barack Obama again sought to make the case to the American people for “dealing with the rapidly growing threat of climate change” last month, in a speech to the League of Conservation Voters. Right up front he said that his speech would not have “a lot of spin, just the facts.” When a politician…
    Brett Schaefer | Nicolas Loris
    Read More
  • opinion

    This Standard Is One Reason the Price of Gas Will Increase
    Not thinking things through is a chronic problem with policy-makers in Washington. Superficial and easily sound-bite-able policies dominate the thoughtful-but-complex ones. For instance mandates for biofuel use would seem to be driven by basic supply and demand—more domestic fuel would lead to lower fuel prices for consumers. But the reality is more complex. On June…
    David Kreutzer
    Read More
  • news

    In 32 Seconds, Mick Mulvaney Boils Down the Debate Over Ex-Im Bank
    Who do you trust—a government agency justifying its existence or a private business trying to compete? That’s the question Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., posed at today’s Financial Service Committee hearing on the Export-Import Bank. In just 32 seconds, Mulvaney explains why he’s siding with the free market.
    Robert B. Bluey
    Read More