Environment
Business & Economics
Congress aims to rob consumers and reward major retailers
The Herald (Bourbonnais, IL), July 22, 2008 A recent survey found Americans rank skyrocketing gas prices as their most serious economic concern. The House Judiciary Committee will soon consider a proposal to put more money in the pockets of gas station owners and major retailers, while raising the interest rates ...
Commentary
Let Energy Technologies Stand Alone
Late last month, the California Energy Commission and Public Utility Commission touted “feed-in tariffs” as yet another approach to spur development of renewable electricity sources. These “renewables” remain a favorite of government despite dismal economics and poor performance. Government favoritism toward renewables includes subsidies, mandatory purchases such as renewable portfolio ...
Climate Change
Be Careful What You Wish For: Hardship of high gasoline prices previews the impact of emission controls
In 2006, at the end of his movie An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore offered a number of things that the average person could do to decrease their impact on global climate change. They could ride a bike or take mass transit, the former vice-president advised. They could drive a fuel-efficient ...
Climate Change
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2008
To borrow the blunt language of Generation X and the “Millennials,” Does the United States suck on the environment? This 13th edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators aims to address this question in a new and broader context. Contrary to the perception expressed in the epigraphs above, the ...
Commentary
AB 32 is a breath of foul air for taxpayers, businesses
California is in the midst of economic turmoil. Headlines shout daily about the plummeting dollar and home values, disappearing jobs, soaring fuel and food costs, and a growing massive state budget deficit. Apparently oblivious to the strain on California households, some state legislators are trying to rush implementation of a ...
Business & Economics
Politicians Tell Big Oil How to Make Billions
When it comes to vilifying big evil corporations, the accusations made about oil companies never disappoint. The latest controversy centers on whether the government should allow more drilling for oil and natural gas on federal lands. A widely cited report (pdf) from the congressional Committee of Natural Resources gives all ...
Agriculture
More tort changes needed
More tort changes needed I applaud the Press-Register’s editorial on the substantial negative impact Alabama’s poor tort environment has on the state economy (“Alabama needs to flee ‘tort purgatory’,” June 24). Despite recent legislative reforms of the tort system, Alabama still has a long way to go. The Pacific Research ...
Commentary
California Senate Seeks to Restrict Food Packaging and Cooking Chemicals
The California state Senate has passed and sent to the Assembly a bill to ban the use of food packaging containing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Senate Bill 1313 would ban persons and companies from manufacturing, selling, or distributing any food contact substance containing PFOS, PFOA, higher homologues, ...
Agriculture
Cap and Trade for Climate Change
Rightly or wrongly, Global Warming offers disaster for our planet. Countering it has become a consuming concern. Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) focus on carbon dioxide. “A reduction in carbon emissions has become an end in itself,” observes Bjorn Lomborg, whose Copenhagen Consensus found 36 better ways to accomplish the ...
Business & Economics
Impact – June 2008
PRI Ideas in Action – June 2008 Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. Click below to view PRI’s recent contributions. Read PDF
Congress aims to rob consumers and reward major retailers
The Herald (Bourbonnais, IL), July 22, 2008 A recent survey found Americans rank skyrocketing gas prices as their most serious economic concern. The House Judiciary Committee will soon consider a proposal to put more money in the pockets of gas station owners and major retailers, while raising the interest rates ...
Let Energy Technologies Stand Alone
Late last month, the California Energy Commission and Public Utility Commission touted “feed-in tariffs” as yet another approach to spur development of renewable electricity sources. These “renewables” remain a favorite of government despite dismal economics and poor performance. Government favoritism toward renewables includes subsidies, mandatory purchases such as renewable portfolio ...
Be Careful What You Wish For: Hardship of high gasoline prices previews the impact of emission controls
In 2006, at the end of his movie An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore offered a number of things that the average person could do to decrease their impact on global climate change. They could ride a bike or take mass transit, the former vice-president advised. They could drive a fuel-efficient ...
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2008
To borrow the blunt language of Generation X and the “Millennials,” Does the United States suck on the environment? This 13th edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators aims to address this question in a new and broader context. Contrary to the perception expressed in the epigraphs above, the ...
AB 32 is a breath of foul air for taxpayers, businesses
California is in the midst of economic turmoil. Headlines shout daily about the plummeting dollar and home values, disappearing jobs, soaring fuel and food costs, and a growing massive state budget deficit. Apparently oblivious to the strain on California households, some state legislators are trying to rush implementation of a ...
Politicians Tell Big Oil How to Make Billions
When it comes to vilifying big evil corporations, the accusations made about oil companies never disappoint. The latest controversy centers on whether the government should allow more drilling for oil and natural gas on federal lands. A widely cited report (pdf) from the congressional Committee of Natural Resources gives all ...
More tort changes needed
More tort changes needed I applaud the Press-Register’s editorial on the substantial negative impact Alabama’s poor tort environment has on the state economy (“Alabama needs to flee ‘tort purgatory’,” June 24). Despite recent legislative reforms of the tort system, Alabama still has a long way to go. The Pacific Research ...
California Senate Seeks to Restrict Food Packaging and Cooking Chemicals
The California state Senate has passed and sent to the Assembly a bill to ban the use of food packaging containing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Senate Bill 1313 would ban persons and companies from manufacturing, selling, or distributing any food contact substance containing PFOS, PFOA, higher homologues, ...
Cap and Trade for Climate Change
Rightly or wrongly, Global Warming offers disaster for our planet. Countering it has become a consuming concern. Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) focus on carbon dioxide. “A reduction in carbon emissions has become an end in itself,” observes Bjorn Lomborg, whose Copenhagen Consensus found 36 better ways to accomplish the ...
Impact – June 2008
PRI Ideas in Action – June 2008 Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. Click below to view PRI’s recent contributions. Read PDF
