Amazingly, Russia has brought criminal piracy charges against the crew of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which it had arrested on the high seas. The piracy charges make a mockery of international law, for reasons I’ve discussed. Moreover, such clearly abusive and politicized piracy charges are quite unprecedented in modern history, as far as I […]
Archive | Energy
The Impact of Automation on Environmental Impact Statements
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on October 1, 2013 6:06 pm in Automation, Energy, Environment, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars
Since the 1950s, the Long Beach Freeway has linked the massive Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to, roughly, the rest of the continental United States. Because much has changed in trade and traffic since then, California’s relevant transportation authorities have decided that perhaps this freeway should change as well. The resulting Draft Environmental […]
EPA Proposes New Carbon Standards for Power Plants
Today the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing carbon dioxide emission standards for new power plants that will, in effect, bar the construction of new coal-fired power plants without costly carbon capture technology. The proposed standards would require both natural gas and coal-fired power plants to meet stringent new limits — limits that most new natural […]
The End of Peak Oil
It seems the neo-Malthusian “peak oil” movement is finally petering out. As Ron Bailey reports, the leading peak oil website, the Oil Drum, will be converting to a static archive. Peak oil arguments seem to have peaked well before oil and gas supplies.
Case Western Reserve Law Review Symposium on Hydraulic Fracturing
The Case Western Reserve Law Review has published its fall symposium on “The Law and Policy of Hydraulic Fracturing: Addressing the Issues of the Natural Gas Boom.” I blogged about the symposium here. The full issue is available onilne in PDF, and I’ve posted links to the articles below. Introduction by Jonathan L. Entin Four Questions […]
Is a Wind Turbine a Nuisance?
Wind turbines may be a promising low-carbon power source, but the communities in which they are sited do not always welcome them with open arms. Residents of the Forest hills subdivision in Washoe Valley, Nevada, were none to pleased when one of their neighbors planned to erect a wind turbine to power his home. They […]
Shultz and Becker Urge Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax
Former Secretary of State George Shultz and Nobel laureate economist Gary Becker take to the pages of the WSJ to urge a revenue-neutral carbon tax. we propose a measure that could go a long way toward leveling the playing field: a revenue-neutral tax on carbon, a major pollutant. A carbon tax would encourage producers and consumers […]
Swan Song for Nuclear Power?
Several years ago, many policymakers and industry experts believed nuclear power was on the verge of a renaissance. New reactor designs, a streamlined approval process, and the desire for carbon-free electricity generation were to herald a rebirth for this power source. Yet as the Washington Post reports, it has not worked out that way. companies are […]
Increasing Oil and Gas Reserves
How much has hydraulic fracturing and associated technological improvements in oil and gas development affected the economics of energy? In August of this year the Energy Information Administration reported a record increase in proved reserves of oil and gas in 2010. Here are the relevant graphs: Technological improvements deserve most of the credit, though higher energy […]
Merrill on “Fear of Fracking”
This morning, Columbia’s Thomas Merrill delivered the keynote address at the Case Western Reserve Law Review symposium on “The Law and Policy of Hydraulic Fracturing: Addressing the Issues of the Natural Gas Boom.” His talk, “Fear of Fracking,” sought to addressed four important questions about fracking: 1) Why did fracking technology emerge in the United […]
Is It Time to Reconsider Daylight Savings Time?
Daylight savings time ends this weekend, but should it be ended for good? Georgia State economist Spencer Banzhaf has an op-ed in today’s WSJ questioning the case for shifting the clocks over the summer. Here’s a taste: The United States adopted the annual use of daylight-saving time permanently in 1966, then lengthened its duration on […]
President Obama Blocks Chinese-Owned Wind-Farm Development
As anticipated in yesterday’s post, today President Obama acted on the pending CFIUS report regarding the Chinese-owned wind-farm developer (Ralls Corp.) and its four wind-farm projects in Oregon. The President’s order is noteworthy for being even broader than the two CFIUS orders it supersedes (which are described in my first post). Such presidential orders are quite […]
Update on Lawsuit Challenging CFIUS Action Blocking Chinese Wind-Farm Development
With my firm’s CFIUS experts, I put together a fuller analysis of the potentially significant CFIUS lawsuit I blogged earlier this month. For those just tuning in now: the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States issued an order that blocked a Chinese-owned developer from proceeding with four wind-farm projects in Oregon; […]
Dispatches from the Duke Conference on “Conservative Visions of Our Environmental Future”
Today I am at Duke to participate in a conference on “Conservative Visions of Our Environmental Future,” sponsored by the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Nicholas School for the Environment, Duke Federalist Society, Duke College Republicans and the Energy & Enterprise Initiative. The conference is being live streamed […]
Landmark Foreign-Investment Suit Filed
If you deal regularly with the federal government, there are more candidates for the “most important government office that you’ve never heard of” than you can count. My post tonight concerns not an office, but a federal interagency committee: the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known by its acronym CFIUS, which is undeniably powerful, […]