Overview for environment

Remove Obama's Nuclear Regulator

One of the raps against President Obama is that he's in over his head due, in part, to lack of executive management experience. Here's one thing Obama could do to shore up his management credentials: find a way to get rid of Greg Jaczko as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Now would …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Wednesday December 14, 2011

Don't Expect Results at a Climate Conference

Another biennial international climate negotiation jamboree wraps up today. What does the world have to show for it? Durban shouldn't turn out to be the belly flop that Copenhagen was in 2009. Other than that, not much. See you in two years and all that. Even a few greens are wondering if …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday December 9, 2011

So Crazy it Just Might Work

The Ontario government's competitiveness task force--chaired by the dean of the University of Toronto business school--has proposed lower tax rates for business investment, offset by a new carbon tax.

Written by David Frum on Friday November 18, 2011

The Free Market Can't Clean Up This Nuclear Mess

Eli Lehrer ably defends the Department of Energy, the flawed and unloved agency whose name fell away from Rick Perry's lips when his neural network took an inopportune coffee break. As Lehrer pointed out, about half of DOE's budget is allotted for watchdogging our nuclear arsenal and cleaning …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday November 11, 2011

Colony Shale, The First Solyndra

Solyndra is a lesson in how the substitution of wishful thinking for green eyeshades can stimulate the growth of costly energy carbuncles that emit malodorous political fumes. Today it is Solyndra. Yesterday it was Colony Shale. Don’t remember Colony Shale? Coloradans do. In the mesa country …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Thursday September 29, 2011

Bachmann's Empty EPA Trash-Talk

On a recent campaign stop in Florida, Michele Bachmann waded into a political swamp by saying that she would drill in the Everglades if that “is where the energy is.” While she gave a cursory nod to drilling responsibly, it’s clear she had no clue about the environmental or political …

Written by David Jenkins on Tuesday September 6, 2011

Where is Huntsman's Passion?

It seemed a weirdly fitting protest. A single truck pulled an electronic billboard around and around the block. The billboard denounced Republicans for Environmental Protection - and their guest speaker, Gov. Jon Huntsman - as a "RINO stampede." The truck promoted a group called JunkScience.com, …

Written by David Frum on Friday July 29, 2011

America's Wild Spaces Get the Shaft

In a setback to conservationists, the White House this week abandoned a proposal that would have led to the creation of new wilderness areas out West. The Obama administration has backed away from a policy to designate as "wild lands" federal acreage that merits consideration for permanent …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday June 3, 2011

Extreme Weather: A Climate Change Wake Up Call?

Climate scientists have been predicting for years that carbon loading in our atmosphere will create droughts, floods and other extreme weather events. Bill McKibben, founder of the global climate campaign 350.org , recently wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post titled em> A link between …

Written by David Jenkins on Tuesday May 31, 2011

Christie's Climate Change Straight Talk

Chris Christie may have pulled New Jersey from the Northeast's power plant cap-and-trade program but in the larger battle on climate change, he's on the right side. Chris Christie has pulled New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or "Reggie," the power plant cap-and-trade …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday May 27, 2011

Americans Tuning Out Climate Change

According to a new poll, Americans are less concerned about climate change than in years past. Its time for environmentalists to turn up the heat. According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are less concerned about climate change than in the past. Has the environmental movement dropped the …

Written by D.R. Tucker on Sunday May 22, 2011

Don't Pick on Big Oil For Having Big Profits

Congress' decision to attack oil companies is a weak diversion from their own inability to control prices at the pump. Repeal the so-called subsidies to oil and gas? Ostensibly this is a punitive measure that targets oil companies for the rise in the price of gasoline at the pump, even though …

Written by Brad Schaeffer on Wednesday May 18, 2011

Obama's Cynical Drilling Drive

Obama's decision to expand U.S. oil production might be smart politically, but it won't do anything to reduce gas prices. What President Obama’s Saturday radio address should have said: "My fellow Americans. Today, I am directing the Department of the Interior to conduct annual lease sales in …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Monday May 16, 2011

Toronto’s Elephants Need to Head South

Four elephants have died at Toronto's zoo in the last five years, and seven since 1984. Its time to move the rest to a new home. A recent column by the inimitable Joe Warmington, scolded that “phony American activists” were seeking to “hijack” the elephants at Toronto Zoo and send them to an …

Written by Peter Worthington on Friday May 13, 2011

Climate Change Policy Won't Prevent Twister Deaths

After devastating windstorms hit the South in April, there's been a push to link climate policy to preventing more tornadoes. But there are easier ways to save lives. By any reasonable measure, the windstorms that ravaged the South in April present a massive tragedy: the most disaster-caused …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Friday May 13, 2011

The Dems' Big Oil Tax Break Trap

Senate Democrats are circulating a bill to cinch up oil company tax loopholes and use the resulting revenue to pay down the deficit. Senate Democrats are circulating a bill to cinch up oil company tax loopholes and use the resulting revenue to pay down the deficit. The bill would take aim at …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Wednesday May 11, 2011

Selling Green Tech to Wall Street

Green tech ideas often face unique challenges trying to win financial backing. But a new proposal could give the feds a role in helping them attract private capital. Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee saw remarkable harmony regarding legislation to give the …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Thursday May 5, 2011

Can the GOP Break Its Oil Addiction?

The House GOP wants to cut spending. Why then are they so reluctant to take on big oil's subsidies and tax breaks? The problem with intellectual inconsistency is that it usually comes back to bite you. The House Republican leadership is getting a painful lesson in this regard because of their …

Written by David Jenkins on Friday April 29, 2011

Washington's Gas Price Blame Game

Both parties have responded to the gas price debate with the same old rhetoric: blaming greedy speculators or regulations on domestic drilling. Here we go again: Gasoline prices are dancing at or above $4 per gallon, and politicians on both sides of the aisle are dusting off tried-and-true …

Written by Jim DiPeso on Tuesday April 26, 2011

The Spill Washington Forgot

One year after the worst oil spill in American history, Washington's shrugged off the disaster and is ready to push for more drilling to counter rising gas prices. After the 1969 Santa Barbara well blowout that smeared 100, 000 barrels of oil along California’s picturesque central coast, the …

Written by David Jenkins on Thursday April 21, 2011