Maybe it’s the new mood in Congress. Maybe the stars are aligned. Whatever the cause, opposition to ethanol subsidies is cropping up in some unusual places — and just in time, as ethanol tax credits are set to expire in a few weeks. Back in 2000, then-Vice President Al Gore touted ethanol subsidies as good […]
Archive | Energy
IG Confirms White House Edits of Moratorium Report
A draft report of the Department of Interior Inspector General has confirmed what many suspected: High-level White House officials edited an Interior Department report to create the false impression that Interior Secretary’s Ken Salazar’s decision to impose a deep-water drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico had been peer reviewed and approved by outside experts. […]
Wasteful Weatherization Projects
The stimulus bill included $5 billion for weatherization projects. The idea was not just to create jobs, but also invest in energy efficiency. The money didn’t get spent quite as quickly as some had hoped, but it was still worthwhile , right? Maybe not. The stimulus funds ramped up weatherization programs so much that quality […]
Climate Policy Without Cap and Trade
This week, environmental analysts from left and right came together to offer a “post-partisan” approach to climate change. In Post-Partisan Power: How a Limited and Direct Approach to Energy Innovation Can Deliver Cheap Energy, Economic Productivity, and National Prosperity, Steven Hayward (American Enterprise Institute), Mark Muro (Brookings Institution), and Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger (Breakthrough […]
Interior Lifts Deepwater Drilling Moratorium
Today the U.S. Department of the Interior lifted the moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. As outlined in this memorandum of decision, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has instructed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly known as the “Minerals Management Service”) to permit drilling by operators that […]
Nuclear Off a Cliff
The Washington Post reports that constellation Energy is pulling out of a plan to build a third nuclear reactor at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. In a letter to the Department of Energy, Constellation explained that the conditions and costs of the federal loan guarantee was not “workable” and had generated too much uncertainty […]
Suppressing Oil Spill Science
The AP and NYT report on draft reports from National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling critical of the federal government’s response to the spill. Among other things, the reports accuse Administration officials of suppressing and misrepresenting scientific assessments of the spill and its potential consequences. From the AP: The […]
Labor Versus Clean Energy
Today the United Steelworkers filed a complaint alleging that China is unfairly (and illegally) subsidizing clean energy exports, such as wind turbines and solar panels. China has become one of the world’s largest producers of such technologies, but the Steelworkers allege it has gained market share through unfair trade practices. The Obama Administration has 45 […]
Solar Stimulus
When I was in Montana with my family in July, we happened upon Vice President Joe Biden’s security detail. He was apparently in the area to, among other things, give a talk in Yellowstone National Park about the economic and environmental benefits of federal stimulus projects. In today’s WSJ, Roger Meiners looks closely at one […]
A Coasean Approach to Wind Farms
Wind farms sound like a great idea, until you have to live next to one — wind turbines can make a fair amount of noise. For this reason, some residents of eastern Oregon were not too happy when a wind developer came knocking. In some places, this would lead to a pitched political battle. But […]
Trading Carbon for Mercury
Politico is reporting on Majority Leader Harry Reid’s efforts to corral enough votes for a Senate climate bill. Reid says that “cap-and-trade” is not in his vocabulary, but the whole plan is to enact something that can be conferenced with the House bill (“Waxman-Markey”) and enacted in a post-election lame duck session. The problem is […]
Department of Energy Inefficiency
The NYT has a cute item noting that the Department of Energy has had a hard time following its own advice on improving energy efficiency, such as by installing fluorescent lighting and auto-shut-offs.
Sec. Salazar to Reimpose Drilling Moratorium
In response to yesterday’s judicial decision granting a preliminary injunction against the Interior Department’s moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at depths greater than 500 feet, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that in the next “few days” he would issue a new order, reimposing the moratorium and providing a more detailed explanation of […]
Judge Blocks Offshore Drilling Moratorium
A federal district court judge in Louisiana has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the six-month moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico imposed by the Interior Department. Judge Martin Feldman found that the plaintiffs were substantially likely to prevail on the merits in their legal challenge to the moratorium on the […]
Property Rights & Climate Change at AALS
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 20, 2010 11:29 pm in Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Property Rights
I presented on a plenary panel discussing the implications of global warming for property law at the AALS Mid-Year meeting earlier this month. My thesis, in short, was that concerns about global climate change do not justify abandoning or reconceiving traditional property norms. To the contrary, I suggested, environmental problems generally – and the threat […]