The George C. Marshall Institute has released a new study from James DeLong outlining what it refers to as “the five circles of Carbon Tax Hell.” The study is very readable and concise (only 34 pages of main text), yet at the same time offers a comprehensive survey of the main problems with a carbon [...]
Senator Whitehouse’s Duplicitous Carbon Tax Amendment
Last weekend the Senate rejected an amendment to the FY 2014 budget that would have enacted a carbon tax. For those interested in affordable energy and job creation, this was a good thing. Still, it’s worth walking through the actual wording of Senator Whitehouse’s amendment to see just how duplicitous it was. Even if someone [...]
March 26, 2013 | Bus Tour, Emissions Standards, Facts, Greenhouse Gases, News, Threats
Boxer-Sanders Carbon “Fee” Relies on Huge Bait-and-Switch
A recent story in EnergyGuardian (sub. req’d) centered on Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) support for the carbon “fee” bill introduced by his colleagues Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Fortunately, the newly-released NERA study gives us a quantitative estimate of how much their scheme would hurt the U.S. economy. The whole episode fulfills the [...]
February 28, 2013 | Bus Tour, Emissions Standards, Facts, Greenhouse Gases, News, Threats
New NERA Study Shows Economic Dangers of a Carbon Tax
A new study by NERA Economic Consulting, prepared for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), documents the economic dangers of a federal carbon tax. The study is very conservative in its assumptions (as I’ll explain below), giving the benefit of the doubt to the proponents of a carbon tax. Even so, there study reaches two [...]
February 28, 2013 | Bus Tour, Emissions Standards, Facts, Greenhouse Gases, News, Threats
Energy Development a Parachute for Fiscal Cliff
A recent article at Free Enterprise outlined U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue’s suggestion for easing the problem of solving the so-called fiscal cliff: development of U.S. conventional energy resources. This would boost employment and output, lower energy prices for consumers, and bring in more revenue for various levels of government. If policymakers are serious as [...]
December 31, 2012 | Bus Tour, Greenhouse Gases, News
Cass Sunstein’s Garbage In, Garbage Out on Cost/Benefit Analysis
In a recent NYT op ed, Harvard Law professor and former Obama official Cass Sunstein cited Ronald Reagan, of all figures, as inspiration for more federal regulation on the transportation and energy sectors. Sunstein’s angle was to say that Reagan endorsed the cost/benefit analysis arguing for the US agreement to fight the “ozone hole,” [...]
December 4, 2012 | Bus Tour, Corporate Average Fuel Economy, Emissions Standards, Greenhouse Gases, News
Intentionally increasing gasoline prices only makes sense to New York attorneys
Earlier this week, the Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI)at the New York University School of Law announced they were threatening EPA with a lawsuit to increase the price of gasoline and diesel through a cap-and-trade system. They claim they want to increase the price of transportation fuel to “address climate change,” but they omit the [...]
November 29, 2012 | Emissions Standards, Greenhouse Gases
More Scare Tactics on Climate Regulations
Bjorn Lomborg has a great article in Foreign Policy walking through the problems with a major new study warning of the need for government action on climate change in order to avoid millions (!) of deaths. Lomborg’s critique shows how the climate change debate, especially as it’s reported in the major media, is full [...]
McDermott’s Carbon Tax Bill Is Worst of All Possible Worlds
An August analysis from Capital Alpha explores Rep. Jim McDermott’s carbon tax bill introduced late in the summer. The proposal calls for an initial $25 per ton tax on carbon, which quickly escalates to a capped fine of $525 (!) per ton by the year 2024. The Capital Alpha report is fairly evenhanded and speaks [...]
October 24, 2012 | Greenhouse Gases, News
Do Voters Want to Pay More For Energy?
A recent Grist article was elated over the apparent lack of voter knowledge on the Solyndra issue, and celebrates poll results showing Americans support “clean energy” initiatives. But ironically, the writer who is complaining about dishonesty himself quotes a Solyndra critic out of context to utterly change the meaning of his statement. Furthermore, the [...]
October 22, 2012 | Greenhouse Gases, News, Renewable Fuel Standard
