A Free-Market Energy Blog

Unintended Consequences of the Climate Crusade

By Andrew Montford -- January 23, 2015

“Is this destruction and poisoning of the natural world, this trampling of human rights, the legacy  that climate campaigners want to leave the world? Is this really the only ethical way to deal with the question of global warming? Is it even ethical at all? … A public debate on the damage being done by climate change policy is long overdue.”

At the heart of much policy to deal with climate change lies an ethical approach to the question of intergenerational equity, namely that current generations should avoid passing costs onto future ones, who can play no part in the decisions. In fact it has been said that this is the only ethical way to deal with global warming, although this is not true – professional economists have identified several alternatives.…

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The Costly, False, Futile Climate Crusade

By William Happer -- January 22, 2015

“Policies to ‘stop climate change’ are based on climate models that completely failed to predict the lack of warming for the past two decades. Observational data show clearly that the predictions of unacceptable warming by more carbon dioxide are wrong. Economic discount rates aside, policies designed to save the planet from more carbon dioxide are based on failed computer models.”

Has there ever been a movement in human history that did not present itself as an ethical cause?

Ghengis Khan supposedly informed his victims: ‘I am the  punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you!’

In his new report for The Global Warming Policy Foundation (UK), Andrew Montford summarizes the unexpected outcomes of a modern cause, the jihad against atmospheric carbon dioxide.…

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Highway Taxes vs. Road Expenditure (Diversion) by State

By Randal O'Toole -- January 21, 2015

“The purpose of user fees is not to provide a slush fund for highway engineers or other transportation managers; it is to link users and providers so that both face the right incentives. Diverting gas taxes away from highways weakens the link between highway managers and users, and spending highway fees on transit weakens the link between transit agencies and transit riders.”

American motorists pay taxes of approximately $0.50 per gallon for motor fuel; ($0.48 for gasoline; $0.54 for diesel). At today’s prices, this is a 20–25 percent tax bite.

Of the federal $0.184/gallon gasoline and $0.244/gallon diesel levy, approximately 20 percent of collections goes to mass transit. Other diversions leave less than 80 percent for roads.

The American Petroleum Institute has a web page showing how much of the price you pay for gasoline goes to the government in each state.…

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Keystone XL and Climate: 0.0001 C/yr (one ten thousandths of a degree Celsius)

By Chip Knappenberger -- January 20, 2015
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Climate Alarmists Turn Back the Clock

By Viv Forbes -- January 19, 2015
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The Stunningly Beautiful Price of Gasoline

By Jeffrey Tucker -- January 15, 2015
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Georgia Cronyism: DSM, Nuclear Plague Public Service Commission

By Jim Clarkson -- January 14, 2015
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Bipartisan Energy Policy: Consumers, Taxpayers Beware

By Peter Grossman -- January 13, 2015
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Cape Wind Is Dead! (U.S. offshore wind stuck at zero)

By -- January 12, 2015
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The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels (book review)

By Jay Lehr and Sterling Burnett -- January 8, 2015
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