Environment
Agriculture
Can California Dig a Peripheral Canal?
When rumors began circulating in late February that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was about to issue an executive order to study options for a peripheral canal that would divert water from the Sacramento River around the delicate Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, legislators, environmentalists, and central valley farmers alike felt the ...
Commentary
Eat your greens: Shrinking our footprint will take more than a calculator
Two items rattled across my desk that, at first glance, didn’t appear to share much in common. The first, a letter from former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and his wife, Lee Udall, to their grandchildren, appeared in Colorado-based High Country News, “a nonprofit media organization whose mission ...
Agriculture
Jump-Starting The Economy
If the presidential candidates are serious about bolstering the economy, they should address one of the major drags on it–widespread abuse of the tort system. The role of the tort system in compensating victims for their injuries is certainly valuable. But meritless plaintiffs and their opportunistic personal-injury attorneys clog the ...
Climate Change
Earth Day doomsayers need to get their facts right
Kansas City Hispanic News (Kansas City, MO), April 30, 2008* Holmen Courier (West Salem, WI), April 24, 2008 Mundo L.A. (Van Nuys, CA), April 24, 2008 With all the reminders to recycle, shrink our carbon footprint, and reduce our consumption of goods, just about everyone feels guilty on Earth Day. ...
Climate Change
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2008 Report
As this report and others like it have explored for more than a decade, environmental improvement in the United States has been substantial and dramatic, almost across the board. The chief drivers of this improvement are economic growth, constantly increasing resource efficiency, technological innovation in pollution control, and the deepening ...
Commentary
2008 Environmental Index Debunks Myth that U.S. Lags Europe in Environmental Performance
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) today released the 2008 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, an annual report highlighting the significant environmental developments and milestones in the United States and worldwide. The 2008 edition debunks the widely held perception that the U.S. ...
Environment
CEI’s Tanton says California’s energy efficiency measures not implementable on national scale
As the United States tries to reduce emissions and become more energy independent, energy efficiency will likely play a major part in achieving these goals. But should the government be incentivizing consumers to lead more efficient lifestyles? During today’s OnPoint, Thomas Tanton, a fellow in environmental studies at the Pacific ...
Commentary
Californication – It’s a Sin
People frequently argue that California should be the model for the nation’s energy use, because it has managed to keep per capita energy consumption flat over the past couple of decades. Not so fast, says Tom Tanton of the Pacific Research Institute and the Institute for Energy Research. In a ...
Blackouts
Coal Power Opposition Raises Blackout Possibilities
The lights may soon go out in the Washington, DC metro area and other parts of the country due to environmental activist opposition to coal-fired power plants, energy analysts are warning. “Electric power has already become painfully expensive in Washington and its suburbs. Now, local utilities, say, it could become ...
Commentary
San Francisco Regulators Seek Greenhouse Fee
San Francisco-area air quality regulators are proposing to charge a fee to most businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. The fee–4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide–would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants and would include landfills, factories, and small businesses such as ...
Can California Dig a Peripheral Canal?
When rumors began circulating in late February that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was about to issue an executive order to study options for a peripheral canal that would divert water from the Sacramento River around the delicate Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, legislators, environmentalists, and central valley farmers alike felt the ...
Eat your greens: Shrinking our footprint will take more than a calculator
Two items rattled across my desk that, at first glance, didn’t appear to share much in common. The first, a letter from former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and his wife, Lee Udall, to their grandchildren, appeared in Colorado-based High Country News, “a nonprofit media organization whose mission ...
Jump-Starting The Economy
If the presidential candidates are serious about bolstering the economy, they should address one of the major drags on it–widespread abuse of the tort system. The role of the tort system in compensating victims for their injuries is certainly valuable. But meritless plaintiffs and their opportunistic personal-injury attorneys clog the ...
Earth Day doomsayers need to get their facts right
Kansas City Hispanic News (Kansas City, MO), April 30, 2008* Holmen Courier (West Salem, WI), April 24, 2008 Mundo L.A. (Van Nuys, CA), April 24, 2008 With all the reminders to recycle, shrink our carbon footprint, and reduce our consumption of goods, just about everyone feels guilty on Earth Day. ...
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2008 Report
As this report and others like it have explored for more than a decade, environmental improvement in the United States has been substantial and dramatic, almost across the board. The chief drivers of this improvement are economic growth, constantly increasing resource efficiency, technological innovation in pollution control, and the deepening ...
2008 Environmental Index Debunks Myth that U.S. Lags Europe in Environmental Performance
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) today released the 2008 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, an annual report highlighting the significant environmental developments and milestones in the United States and worldwide. The 2008 edition debunks the widely held perception that the U.S. ...
CEI’s Tanton says California’s energy efficiency measures not implementable on national scale
As the United States tries to reduce emissions and become more energy independent, energy efficiency will likely play a major part in achieving these goals. But should the government be incentivizing consumers to lead more efficient lifestyles? During today’s OnPoint, Thomas Tanton, a fellow in environmental studies at the Pacific ...
Californication – It’s a Sin
People frequently argue that California should be the model for the nation’s energy use, because it has managed to keep per capita energy consumption flat over the past couple of decades. Not so fast, says Tom Tanton of the Pacific Research Institute and the Institute for Energy Research. In a ...
Coal Power Opposition Raises Blackout Possibilities
The lights may soon go out in the Washington, DC metro area and other parts of the country due to environmental activist opposition to coal-fired power plants, energy analysts are warning. “Electric power has already become painfully expensive in Washington and its suburbs. Now, local utilities, say, it could become ...
San Francisco Regulators Seek Greenhouse Fee
San Francisco-area air quality regulators are proposing to charge a fee to most businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. The fee–4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide–would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants and would include landfills, factories, and small businesses such as ...
