Category: National Policy Analysis
Just Say “Drill”
To burst the oil bubble, just use a drill. If Congress has the political will to stand up to special interests and develop domestic sources of energy, oil prices will come tumbling down. The U.S. has ample reserves of oil ...
The Lieberman-Warner Cap and Trade Bill: Quick Summary and Analysis, by Casey Lartigue and Ryan Balis
Introduction and summary The United States Senate will soon begin debate on America's Climate Security Act of 2007, popularly referred to as the Lieberman-Warner bill after its chief sponsors, Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA). The legislation ostensibly ...
Ethanol: The Fuel to Nowhere
Move over "bridge to nowhere," there's a new poster child of congressional waste and avarice - ethanol, the "fuel to nowhere." Ethanol leads only to higher food prices and greater greenhouse gas emissions. Anytime Congress can find an excuse for ...
Ethanol: A Burden on the Poor
The red-hot Congressional love affair with the alternative fuel ethanol is starting to leave many supermarket customers feeling mighty blue these days as they pay inflated prices for grocery staples. Even worse, it's likely to dramatically increase the cases of ...
An Earmark + “K Street” Lobbyist = Massive Federal Land Grab
George Bush is now the last remaining hurdle to the establishment of de facto federal zoning along a 175-mile corridor running from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s one of the largest federal land grabs in history. On April 29, ...
Conservation Easements: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, by Dana Joel Gattuso
Introduction Conservation easements, as we know them today, are a fairly recent approach to land conservation. As government acquisitions and regulatory restrictions on land use have become prohibitively invasive, costly, and ineffective, governments have looked to conservation easements as a ...
Sportsmen: Beware the Clean Water Restoration Act, by Peyton Knight
Introduction and Summary Congress is currently considering legislation that would substantially broaden the federal government's authority under the Clean Water Act. However, like many misnamed bills before it, the Clean Water Restoration Act is a lesson in false advertising. The ...
Listing the Polar Bear Under the Endangered Species Act Because of Projected Global Warming Could Harm Bears and Humans Alike, by Peyton Knight and Amy Ridenour
Introduction and Summary Few animals capture the imaginations of Americans quite like the polar bear. Just ask Coca-Cola, whose animated polar bear advertisement has become an annual holiday staple. Seemingly impervious to the brutal conditions of the Great White North, ...
Hurricane Forecasters’ 0 for 2 Record Reveals Limits of Climate Science
With the 2007 hurricane season officially over, we now have a better idea of what 85%-95% forecast certainty means: Wrong 100% of the time. That, at least, has been the case over the past two years. In August, the National ...
Gifts to Special Interests Should Not Be Included in Energy Bill, by Peyton Knight
For those who use and depend on affordable energy, there is plenty to dislike about the energy proposals currently being negotiated in Congress. Should Title VI of the House-passed energy bill (H.R. 3221) become law, however, trial lawyers and environmental ...
