In 1984, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that would fundamentally change the balance of power in American government by the Court giving wide deference to regulatory agencies in the interpretation of ambiguous statutes. In Chevron v. NRDC, the Court prescribed guidelines for administrative interpretation regarding vague or ambiguous statutes. The opinion states:

When a court reviews an agency's construction of the statute which it administers, it is confronted with two questions....

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AEA & CVA Send Letter Supporting Rep. Fleming's Amendment to NDAA WASHINGTON -- Today the American Energy Alliance and Concerned Veterans for America sent a letter  to Congress in support of Rep. John Fleming's proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2017. To protect our national interest and ensure the military remains as effective and efficient as possible, Congress should reject the Obama Administration's attempt to promote its green energy agenda on the...
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Litigation over the EPA’s carbon rule for power plants is continuing with oral arguments set for early June. In the meantime, several states have sought to codify the Supreme Court’s stay with a “stop work order” inserted into state appropriations bills. Last Friday, Kansas became the latest state to protect their residents. These bills are critical to protecting scarce state resources while legal uncertainty remains. Where possible, they should also be extended to cover utility...
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Nuclear energy has provided Americans with safe, reliable power for decades. In recent years, new technologies have opened the door to more advanced reactors. However, the current licensing process for nuclear facilities remains burdensome and lengthy, and there is currently no path for advanced nuclear technologies to gain approval at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Fortunately, Congress is taking steps to address this impasse for advanced nuclear technology. Reps. Latta and McNearny...
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Today, millions of people around the world are celebrating Earth Day. Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day, and the environmental movement in general, has been plagued by incorrect predictions and factually wrong claims. Earth Day’s Legacy of Inaccuracy In their 1970 Earth Day edition, Life Magazine stated, “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air...
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The Senate is set to vote on several amendments to the FY2017 Energy & Water Development Appropriations bill. Two amendments look to rein in federal overreach and spending. Sen. Hoeven is offering an amendment blocking funds from being used to implement the administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. Another amendment, offered by Sen. Coats, would look to rein in federal spending in the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. The American Energy...

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Candidate Obama promised that his policies would bankrupt the coal industry. Fast-forward eight years, and that is exactly what has happened. This week’s news about Peabody Energy becoming the latest and final publicly-traded coal company to declare bankruptcy put an exclamation point on this devastating era for the coal industry. The industry’s losses are quite staggering – losing a combined $30 billion in stock-market value since 2010 and shedding 31,000 jobs since 2009, according to...
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In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground level ozone. This regulation is slated to be one of the most expensive in history, affecting nearly all aspects of the economy. However, the potential benefits come nowhere close to justifying the astronomical costs. Fortunately, H.R. 4775 , the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2015, seeks to mitigate the damage done by the EPA’s ozone regulations. This legislation...
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America is in the midst of an energy revolution. While coal use has fallen, natural gas and oil production have increased dramatically over the last four years. Conversely, despite massive amounts of subsidies, mandates, and media hype, renewable energy production has hardly budged. Glowing words for renewable energy investment shouldn’t outshine the real story about the market-driven boom in oil and gas production. Data vs. Hype The chart below shows the change in U.S. energy...
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of Interior tried this week to put a positive spin on their anemic onshore oil and gas leasing program. Even worse, it took them nearly six months to do it, since the fiscal year 2015 ended at the beginning of last October. Of course, it takes a while to craft a message by massaging numbers and cherry picking data points. In their release , the BLM cites a 10 percent increase in oil production on federal and Indian lands from 2014 to...
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