Often in the policy debates on government regulations, you will have free-market people decrying inefficient impediments to business, while the other side will tout the (alleged) benefits to the environment or whatever the social goal happens to be. Yet a new MIT study —from a group that is very sympathetic to carbon regulatory policies—documents how inefficient vehicle fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards are. Even if one buys into the premise that the government should be forcing businesses...

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I wonder if they are going to mention the years that she has spent not responding to document and other requests from Senators and Congressmen. Or the data that she promised to provide (but did not) on the utility MACT or CSAPR. Or her role in the creation of RGGI. Or her involvement in NESCAUM and the low carbon fuel standard. I bet not. But the quote from Jeff Holmstead is awesome all by itself. Standwithgina.com  (3/13) reports: “‘[McCarthy] is willing to sit down and listen and...
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Cronyism. Campaign finance. Prostitution. This story has it all. Politico  (3/4/13) reports: “An Associated Press investigation has found that New Jersey's Sen. Robert Menendez sponsored legislation with incentives for natural gas vehicle conversions that could benefit the biggest donor to his re-election… The CEO and a former consultant to GFS Corp. say that Dr. Salomon Melgen invested in the Florida company, which helps industries convert diesel fuel-fleets to natural gas, and joined...
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This is going to be fun. We’ll see you in Houston on the 9^th. 

    At every turn, the story behind wind energy gets more depressing. It’s like a kid who starts out in Mom and Dad’s basement after Harvard; it’s cute for a few months, and then you realize they may never leave. Green Tech Media  (2/27/13) reports: “‘Capacity factor measures the power output from a generator as a percentage of its maximum capability. With most forms of generation, you would operate at whatever...
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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 warnings that many of us have been making during the carbon tax debate. Specifically, advocates of a carbon tax rely on a...

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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 conclusions: Either the US government sets a carbon tax low enough so that its economic impacts are simply bad, but not awful, in which case there are few...
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If you want to throw down fisticuffs, fine. Pyle’s got Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary waiting for ya, right here. National Journal  (2/26/13) reports: “As passionate as these protests may be, the reality is that the oil in Alberta will go somewhere, and no amount of plastic zip ties -- made from refined petroleum products, I might add -- will change that. The price of Western Canada Select crude oil was $68.27 last Friday compared to $95.87 for West Texas Intermediate, and more than $110...
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All you have to do in the new economy is own a suit! Here’s how it works: All Americans will stop going to school and will pay a visit to the local портной when they turn 18. There, you will be armed with a suit. With this technology – free for all Americans – you will have the opportunity to meet with at least half of the Senate and 150 Congressmen (multiple times each, at that!). These wise old sages, who aren’t nearly as corrupt as everyone says they are, will look at your...
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  The new report from Joseph Mason, “Beyond the Congressional Budget Office,” explores the various ways that the CBO’s recent estimates vastly understate the economic activity and tax receipts that would be generated if the federal government merely got out of the way of the development of domestic oil and gas resources. In the present post, I’ll summarize some of Mason’s key findings, and then relate them to other proposals for easing the federal budget crunch. As we’ll see,...
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The people at IER sure do good work. They're pretty good looking, too. Join them and Neil Cavuto in Houston on May 9, 2013. 

  This should be obvious, but there is a strong correlation between per capita energy use and life expectancy. Roger Pielke Jr.  (2/14/13) reports: “The graph above shows energy use (expressed as kilograms of oil equivalent per capita) versus life expectancy at birth (expressed in years) for 151 countries in the World Bank Development indicators database that...
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