The Federal Government is considering new energy efficiency mandates for icemakers. Before starting down this path it should carefully examine the differences between the rosy promises and the real results from other household appliance efficiency standards that it has imposed.
Energybiz – H. Sterling Burnett outlines a couple of energy- policies that Congress ought to pursue.
Solar photovoltaic is among the fastest growing segments of the energy market. Globally, grid-connected solar capacity increased at an average annual rate of 60 percent from 2004 to 2009, faster than any other energy source.
The Heartland Institute: Russia, Japan, and Canada announced at a late-May G8 summit they would not participate in an international treaty following up the Kyoto Protocol with new carbon dioxide cuts. In doing so, they joined the United States, which reiterated it would remain outside any such treaty.
Recent greenhouse gas emissions cuts reported by developed nations are illusory, a new peer-reviewed study has found, as many of the cuts have occurred simply as a result of industries relocating to developing nations such as China and India.
With the price of oil at more than $100 per barrel, higher gasoline prices are eating into Americans’ budgets. Consumers, however, are not the only ones losing out. The various taxes, lease revenues and royalty payments to federal, state and local governments for oil and gas production on public lands is a significant source of revenue – among the largest sources outside of the personal income tax. Yet, the Obama administration stubbornly clings to a ‘no new production in our backyard policy’ – while blaming oil companies for high prices.
The Washington Times – The nuclear crisis in Fukushima, Japan, has shown, beyond a doubt, the time has come to deal with the United States’ supply of used nuclear fuel rods – commonly, but erroneously, called ‘waste.’ The most immediate potential hazard in the Fukushima crisis stems from the loss of water cooling the plants stored spent fuel.
After conducting a comprehensive study of claims of natural gas production polluting a ranch owner’s aquifer and drinking water, Colorado state regulators concluded the operations undertaken by Pioneer Natural Resources in Las Animas County, Colorado caused no negative water impacts.
Environment and Climate News: The Kentucky Senate has approved a bill to end a moratorium on nuclear power plants being built in the state. The bill, sponsored by Bob Leeper (I-Paducah), passed the Senate on February 8 by a 31-5 vote.
The Washington Times: Increasing the United States' reliance on "clean" energy, as touted by President Obama yet again in this week's budget proposal, would leave Americans just as dependent on unreliable foreign suppliers as we are now on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' stranglehold on oil.
Most people argue that getting the economy back on track should be the new Congress's first order of business. Yet no one seems to agree on how to do so. I suggest that the 112th Congress look at energy policy as job one to secure the economy for now and the future.
Lame duck Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (D) has placed a moratorium on new natural gas leases on state forests lands. Rendell had previously supported new natural gas leases, but he decided to impose the moratorium after the state legislature declined to implement a hefty new severance tax that he supported.
H. Sterling Burnet examines why Americans are more skeptical of dire climate threats than Europeans.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined salmon genetically modified to grow to maturity faster than either wild or traditional farm-raised salmon are safe for human consumption and pose no threat to the environment.
The New York Senate has passed a bill to impose a nine-month moratorium on granting new permits for natural gas production through hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state's portion of the massive, multistate Marcellus shale rock formation.
Only two weeks after BP began capping the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout, people have begun to ask, "Where's the oil?" The fact that skimmer ships sent out to clean the water of oil are unable to find oil to clean is leading the mainstream media to question whether environmentalists tried to exploit this unfortunate event by making it seem worse than it really was for political reasons.
Alaska state officials are objecting to the Obama administration's decision to list more than 187,000 square miles-almost the entire U.S. polar bear population's range-as critical habitat. Critical habitat is defined as an area containing features essential to the conservation of species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
On June 10, by a 53-to-47 vote, Senate Democrats defeated a bipartisan effort to halt the attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Obama administration to mount a regulatory takeover of the U.S. economy.
Besides a police station, the safest place in America on April 19 would likely have been any of the numerous Patriot's Day rallies held around the country where thousands of people, many carrying firearms, celebrated the opening shots in America's war for independence.
In his State of the Union speech President Obama claimed that, "Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010." No surprise, since for months the Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown the unemployment rate to be hovering dangerously close to 10 percent.
The recent explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico was horrendous.
The use of nuclear power to generate electricity is growing worldwide. More than 100 nuclear power plants are under construction or in various stages of planning, and many existing plants are expanding.
U.S. carbon dioxide emissions fell by more than 6 percent in 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Energy Information Administration report. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions as a whole fell almost 3 percent.
Our nation's capital has always been a place of paradoxical twists. From canings on the Senate floor in the 1800s to President Reagan and Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill sharing drinks at the end of the day, it takes a lot for Washington to be surprised. Even so, we find ourselves surprised at events on Capitol Hill likely to take place over the coming weeks.
Bipartisan groups of legislators in both the U.S. House and Senate are attempting to pass legislation to halt the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed greenhouse gas regulations.