Environment
Business & Economics
Obama should abandon energy fables and deal with facts
After a bruising battle over cap and trade last year, President Obama has set his sights on another target — oil and natural gas companies. Vilifying “big oil” might be good politics, but it’s bad policy. If we’re going to get serious about energy solutions, we first need to separate ...
Commentary
Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile
San Francisco—Many policies aiming to “green” the American car culture may do just the opposite, according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free market think tank. Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile, by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., PRI ...
Commentary
Sustaining Environmental Quality and Economic Growth
A few weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoked a permit for one of the largest mountain-top coal mining projects in the United States. That left West Virginia’s politicians up in arms over what they consider major regulatory overreach by the federal government. The action also highlighted key issues ...
Climate Change
New Website for the Unconventional Environmentalist
San Francisco— Today the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based public policy think tank, launched www.EnvironmentalTrends.org, an interactive website for the unconventional environmentalist. The website features expert analysis on current environmental issues and customizable data on environmental trends. “If you’ve ever wanted to get beyond the conventional wisdom of today’s ...
Climate Change
The EPA and the Alarmist Narrative
This month the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turns 40. That calls for a look back at environmental conditions then and now. The president of the time was Richard Nixon, a Republican later of Watergate fame, and he favored the establishment of a federal environmental agency. That followed the first Earth ...
Agriculture
Courting Confusion on Climate Change
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on utilities companies being sued for emitting carbon dioxide. That the case has reached the Supreme Court indicates how confused our judicial system is on the subject of climate, but it is even more troubling that that the ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown’s game of chicken
SACRAMENTO – We’re about to witness a new twist on Sacramento’s annual high-stakes budget game. Many Capitol observers believe that incoming Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats, who no longer need GOP budget support thanks to the Nov. 2 passage of Proposition 25, which allows budget approval with a ...
Commentary
Now they tell us
California has to be a leader, the progressives tell us, by which they mean that ordinary people should just shut up and eat their spinach. The spinach is necessary for the good of mankind, ordinary people included, and, anyway, it tastes good, fills you up, and costs next to nothing. ...
Business & Economics
Lawsuit Lottery Must End
In 2004, a Hazelton-area community pool closed after a man jumped into the water, slightly cutting his heel, and then filed a lawsuit claiming $100,000 in damages. While the settlement was significantly less, the owner, fearing future lawsuits, shut down the pool. Now, this once-thriving business, beloved as a summer ...
Commentary
Miracle Man Wants More Money
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the $3 billion state stem cell agency, is in the news again, but not because of any miraculous cure or therapy it produced. The news is that CIRM wants more money from Californians and that calls for a look back. CIRM was created ...
Obama should abandon energy fables and deal with facts
After a bruising battle over cap and trade last year, President Obama has set his sights on another target — oil and natural gas companies. Vilifying “big oil” might be good politics, but it’s bad policy. If we’re going to get serious about energy solutions, we first need to separate ...
Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile
San Francisco—Many policies aiming to “green” the American car culture may do just the opposite, according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free market think tank. Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile, by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., PRI ...
Sustaining Environmental Quality and Economic Growth
A few weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoked a permit for one of the largest mountain-top coal mining projects in the United States. That left West Virginia’s politicians up in arms over what they consider major regulatory overreach by the federal government. The action also highlighted key issues ...
New Website for the Unconventional Environmentalist
San Francisco— Today the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based public policy think tank, launched www.EnvironmentalTrends.org, an interactive website for the unconventional environmentalist. The website features expert analysis on current environmental issues and customizable data on environmental trends. “If you’ve ever wanted to get beyond the conventional wisdom of today’s ...
The EPA and the Alarmist Narrative
This month the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turns 40. That calls for a look back at environmental conditions then and now. The president of the time was Richard Nixon, a Republican later of Watergate fame, and he favored the establishment of a federal environmental agency. That followed the first Earth ...
Courting Confusion on Climate Change
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on utilities companies being sued for emitting carbon dioxide. That the case has reached the Supreme Court indicates how confused our judicial system is on the subject of climate, but it is even more troubling that that the ...
Jerry Brown’s game of chicken
SACRAMENTO – We’re about to witness a new twist on Sacramento’s annual high-stakes budget game. Many Capitol observers believe that incoming Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats, who no longer need GOP budget support thanks to the Nov. 2 passage of Proposition 25, which allows budget approval with a ...
Now they tell us
California has to be a leader, the progressives tell us, by which they mean that ordinary people should just shut up and eat their spinach. The spinach is necessary for the good of mankind, ordinary people included, and, anyway, it tastes good, fills you up, and costs next to nothing. ...
Lawsuit Lottery Must End
In 2004, a Hazelton-area community pool closed after a man jumped into the water, slightly cutting his heel, and then filed a lawsuit claiming $100,000 in damages. While the settlement was significantly less, the owner, fearing future lawsuits, shut down the pool. Now, this once-thriving business, beloved as a summer ...
Miracle Man Wants More Money
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the $3 billion state stem cell agency, is in the news again, but not because of any miraculous cure or therapy it produced. The news is that CIRM wants more money from Californians and that calls for a look back. CIRM was created ...
