A Free-Market Energy Blog

EPA's Proposed CO2 Rule for New Power Plants: Coal First, Then …

By James Rust -- April 10, 2012

While campaigning in San Francisco in early 2008 during the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama got a little too candid.  “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” he opined to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

Waxman-Markey: Never Forget

Elected, President Obama tried to keep his promise by way of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (aka Waxman-Markey, H.R. 2454), which narrowly passed the House in June 2009 by a vote of 219 to 212.

Among the many features in the 1,437-page bill, cap-and-trade of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions was designed to price (cap-and-tax, to critics) and thus reduce such emissions down to 17 percent of the 2005 level by 2050.

Continue Reading

Is the EPA Endangering Public Health and Welfare by Attempting to Mitigate Extreme Weather?

By Chip Knappenberger -- April 9, 2012

On the rationale of mitigating man-made climate change and thus limiting the occurrence of extreme weather events, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is (unintentionally) fostering a less prepared and less resilient population. As such, EPA should regulate its own actions as endangering public health and welfare.

New Proposed Rule

Back in December 2009, the U.S. EPA issued a finding that human emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.” This “Endangerment Finding” opened the door to the EPA’s issuing regulations aimed at restricting GHG emissions in the U.S. To date, the EPA hasn’t been shy about stepping through that door.

The latest in a string of EPA greenhouse gas regulations was announced just last month. This one is aimed at carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants.…

Continue Reading

Fracking Good News: American Energy Stepping Up

By Steve Everley -- April 6, 2012

All too often it seems we are inundated with bad news – or, at least, presumably bad news – about the impacts of domestic energy development, particularly hydraulic fracturing. We see headlines every day that suggest this proven and tightly regulated technology is damaging local communities and the environment.

Of course, the stories are rarely based in scientific facts (or even a basic knowledge of the processes discussed), and the real track record of shale development speaks for itself: more than 1.2 million wells hydraulically fractured, without a single proven case of water contamination.

Still, those who are eager to write attention-grabbing headlines and sensational reports often win the day, as a recent University of Texas study demonstrated quite clearly: two-thirds of all stories about hydraulic fracturing are decidedly negative in tone.…

Continue Reading

California Cap-and-Trade: Making Ourselves Poorer and 'Dirtier' (Part 2)

By Tom Tanton -- April 5, 2012
Continue Reading

Misdirected Innovation: Environmentalist Taylor on Cap-and-Trade (Part I)

By Tom Tanton -- April 4, 2012
Continue Reading

Why We Fight (Part II: 'A Free Market Energy Vision')

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 3, 2012
Continue Reading

Why We Fight (Part I: AEA is ‘Big Liberty,’ not ‘Big Oil’)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 2, 2012
Continue Reading

Rocket Science is the Easy Part: How Government has Grounded Space Propulsion

By Deborah Sloan -- March 30, 2012
Continue Reading

'Human Achievement Hour': Leave the Lights On and Celebrate this Saturday March 31st

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 29, 2012
Continue Reading

'Wind Farm Realities' Website

By Wayne Gulden -- March 28, 2012
Continue Reading