Congress demanded oil refiners use more ethanol, but meeting the federal targets is going to be a problem. Now it’s up to the EPA to ease the mandate. Will they act?
Archive | Environment
Climate Chavistas?
There are plenty of reasons to oppose the cap-and-trade legislation working its way through Congress, but the claim that a “nasty bureaucratic provision” will require “President Obama to act like Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez” is not one of them. The provision at issue — Section 707 in the bill approved by the Senate Environment […]
Against Climate McCarthyism, Part Deux
Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus continue their pushback against “Climate McCarthyism,” with a particular focus on efforts to equate unorthodox climate views with Holocaust denial, guilt-by-association, and lead Climate McCarthyite Joseph Romm. Roger Pielke Jr. chimes in here. I posted earlier on Shellenberger and Nordhaus’ first fusillade. UPDATE: Ron Bailey chimes in.
Bloggers: 10% unemployment would be disaster for Dems in 2010. Split on whether Cap/Trade will pass
In last week’s National Journal of political bloggers, one question asked: “If unemployment remains at roughly the current level, what impact will that have on the 2010 midterm elections?” One hundred percent of the Right, and 89 percent of the Left bloggers thought it would hurt Democrats, and most thought it would hurt them a […]
Against Climate McCarthyism
Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus have had enough of efforts to stifle debate over climate change policy, particularly by those who solicit quotes to “trash” those who don’t toe the party line. Roger Pielke, Jr. would add those who selectively edit their comment threads. UPDATE: The primary point of the post is to highlight Shellenberger […]
Renewable Power, Texas-Style
Does it take substantial governmental intervention to encourage the growth of renewable energy? It certainly takes some, as renewables remain more expensive than conventional energy sources, but how much? Last Sunday, the New York Times contrasted the efforts of California and Texas. Both states have renewable energy mandates, but energy development is heavily regulated in […]
Clean Air, Dirty Water
The NYT reports on how efforts to reduce air pollution have sometimes led to an increase in water pollution. Even as a growing number of coal-burning power plants around the nation have moved to reduce their air emissions, many of them are creating another problem: water pollution. Power plants are the nation’s biggest producer of […]
Elinor Ostrom and the Tragedy of the Commons
By Ilya Somin on October 12, 2009 11:08 pm in Collective Action Problems, Economy, Environment, Libertarianism, Property Rights, Regulation
I was very happy to hear about Elinor Ostrom’s Nobel Prize in Economics. Her work focuses on the tragedy of the commons and collective action problems, which overlaps several of my own research interests. When Ostrom began writing in this field in the 1960s, the conventional wisdom in economics and political science was that the […]