Fossil Fuels
California
End of Legislative Session Brings Brief Respite from Higher Energy Prices
Legislation that would have required all electric power sold in the state to be generated by renewable sources by 2045 was held up in the final days of the recently-completed legislative session. But it will come back. Should the idea ever become law, we’ll remember these as the easy days ...
California
Talk of a Ban on Non-Electric Cars
What if California did away altogether with cars powered by fossil fuels? Gov. Jerry Brown is said to have considered the question. According to a report in Bloomberg, he asked a state regulator about a plan by China to phase out sales of fossil-fuel vehicles. “I’ve gotten messages from the ...
Blog
Beware Sacramento Offering You A “Good Deal” On Your Next Car
What are the legitimate functions of good government? James Madison said they are “to protect property of every sort.” “The rights of persons and the rights of property are the objects for the protection of which government was instituted,” he said in an 1829 address to the Virginia Convention. Some ...
California
Is Cap-and-Trade Really A Free Market Solution To Climate Change?
The mood was reportedly celebratory on the evening of July 17 after legislators approved a decade-long extension of the state’s carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program. But that’s not to say everyone was happy, or should be. Assembly Bill 398 will continue the current cap-and-trade system through 2030. It places a cap ...
Business & Economics
CAPITAL IDEAS: Different Thinking Needed to Meet Demand of California’s Clean Energy Future
Download the Brief California is destined for yet another energy crisis, which, like the drought that’s been scorching the state, will be man-made. Shortages can be avoided, but that will require lawmakers to think in ways that few have engaged in in recent decades. California’s electricity demand is expected to ...
Business & Economics
Rationale for biofuel doesn’t add up
The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued new rules dictating that 18 billion gallons of biofuels must be blended into America’s 2016 transportation fuel supply. This mandate, referred to as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), has been a disaster for the country. The only sensible minimum renewable fuel mandate is zero. ...
Agriculture
Today’s Energy Crisis: Too Much, Not Too Little, Fossil Fuel
Back in April 1977, President Carter warned that “the oil and natural gas we rely on for 75% of our energy are running out.” In response to the perceived energy supply shortages, he wanted to limit the annual growth in overall U.S. energy usage, force American consumers to lower their ...
Business & Economics
Solyndra crash shows shakiness of market subsidies
Solyndra, the Fremont solar-panel manufacturer that went belly up last week, was the subject of a hearing Wednesday all the way in the nation’s capital. Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Committee on Oversight and Investigations wanted to get to the bottom of how the much-hyped “green” company ...
Environment
Court cools global-warming controversy
The U.S. Supreme Court recently rebuffed environmentalists in their bid to get the judiciary to intervene in the global-warming controversy by invoking the old common law of nuisance, as though global warming could be solved through an injunction. But the irony of the court’s decision in American Electric Power v. ...
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 ...
End of Legislative Session Brings Brief Respite from Higher Energy Prices
Legislation that would have required all electric power sold in the state to be generated by renewable sources by 2045 was held up in the final days of the recently-completed legislative session. But it will come back. Should the idea ever become law, we’ll remember these as the easy days ...
Talk of a Ban on Non-Electric Cars
What if California did away altogether with cars powered by fossil fuels? Gov. Jerry Brown is said to have considered the question. According to a report in Bloomberg, he asked a state regulator about a plan by China to phase out sales of fossil-fuel vehicles. “I’ve gotten messages from the ...
Beware Sacramento Offering You A “Good Deal” On Your Next Car
What are the legitimate functions of good government? James Madison said they are “to protect property of every sort.” “The rights of persons and the rights of property are the objects for the protection of which government was instituted,” he said in an 1829 address to the Virginia Convention. Some ...
Is Cap-and-Trade Really A Free Market Solution To Climate Change?
The mood was reportedly celebratory on the evening of July 17 after legislators approved a decade-long extension of the state’s carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program. But that’s not to say everyone was happy, or should be. Assembly Bill 398 will continue the current cap-and-trade system through 2030. It places a cap ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Different Thinking Needed to Meet Demand of California’s Clean Energy Future
Download the Brief California is destined for yet another energy crisis, which, like the drought that’s been scorching the state, will be man-made. Shortages can be avoided, but that will require lawmakers to think in ways that few have engaged in in recent decades. California’s electricity demand is expected to ...
Rationale for biofuel doesn’t add up
The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued new rules dictating that 18 billion gallons of biofuels must be blended into America’s 2016 transportation fuel supply. This mandate, referred to as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), has been a disaster for the country. The only sensible minimum renewable fuel mandate is zero. ...
Today’s Energy Crisis: Too Much, Not Too Little, Fossil Fuel
Back in April 1977, President Carter warned that “the oil and natural gas we rely on for 75% of our energy are running out.” In response to the perceived energy supply shortages, he wanted to limit the annual growth in overall U.S. energy usage, force American consumers to lower their ...
Solyndra crash shows shakiness of market subsidies
Solyndra, the Fremont solar-panel manufacturer that went belly up last week, was the subject of a hearing Wednesday all the way in the nation’s capital. Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Committee on Oversight and Investigations wanted to get to the bottom of how the much-hyped “green” company ...
Court cools global-warming controversy
The U.S. Supreme Court recently rebuffed environmentalists in their bid to get the judiciary to intervene in the global-warming controversy by invoking the old common law of nuisance, as though global warming could be solved through an injunction. But the irony of the court’s decision in American Electric Power v. ...
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 ...
