In addition to submitting our own formal comment on EPA’s proposed carbon dioxide emission rule for existing power plants, IER has co-signed a free market coalition comment written by Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The CEI coalition comment finds EPA’s power plant rule to be, “illegitimate and unlawful.” The comment explains that the “implementation costs are likely much greater than EPA estimates. It will increase electricity prices and raises...
Continue Reading...

Whether it's the costliest regulation in history or the coal-killing power plant rules (that Obama's law professor says raise "constitutional questions"), it's clear that the CIA isn't the only government agency engaged in torture. At least the CIA isn't torturing Americans.
Continue Reading...

Does the UN think humans are a disease infecting the Earth? As Bloomberg reports:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stepped up his call for all nations rich and poor alike to fight global warming, seeking to break a dispute over which should move first to rein in fossil-fuel pollution. Speaking as senior ministers arrived at a United Nations gathering of envoys from 190 countries, Ban expressed alarm that the world isn’t moving quickly enough on the issue. “ Our planet has a fever...

Continue Reading...

In a recent ThinkProgress blog post , Joe Romm makes a stunning admission—he believes that zero carbon sources such as wind and solar will never be “significantly cheaper than existing coal power” in “a timescale that could matter to humanity.” That’s why the point is to increase the cost of using coal, natural gas, and other carbon dioxide-emitting sources through taxes or regulation. Romm’s comments come as a critique of Google engineers who figured out that their RE<C...
Continue Reading...

The Energy Information Administration recently announced that U.S. proven natural gas reserves were at the highest point of all time. This is great news, but there is one glaring problem—New York. From 2012 to 2013, proved natural gas reserves increased by 10 percent, even as U.S. natural gas production broke records . Pennsylvania led the way with an increase of 13,535 billion cubic feet of new proven natural gas reserves. This is because of the Marcellus and the Utica shales, which...
Continue Reading...

On Dec. 1, the public comment period closed for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon dioxide emissions rule for existing power plants. EPA received more than 1.4 million comments on the proposal, which the agency expects to finalize by next summer in accordance with President Obama’s “climate action plan.” We’ve compiled a survey of comments that highlight the numerous flaws with EPA’s proposed rule. The comments explain the rule’s dubious legal basis,...
Continue Reading...

In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon dioxide rule for existing power plants, Americans submitted millions of public comments ranging from technical tomes to angry missives. Perhaps no comment stood out more than that of Harvard Law Professor Laurence H. Tribe. President Obama studied under Professor Tribe as a student at Harvard Law School in the late-80s. Tribe has described Obama as “the best student I ever had” and supported his presidential...
Continue Reading...

It looks like Christmas came early this year. But instead of a lump of affordable, reliable coal, we've been inundated with regulations from the EPA. Their proposed rule for existing power plants is projected to cost $366 billion, with residents in 43 states expected to see double-digit percentage increases on average in their electricity bills from 2017 to 2031. And the hits keep on coming. By their own estimates, EPA's latest ozone proposal will be the costliest regulation in...
Continue Reading...

Energy matters because it enables us to do more. The unique mix of resources we’ve been blessed with gives us opportunities to create, innovate and strive for a better tomorrow. And by enlisting the help of a little robot with a penchant for skating, Amazon is doing just that. Helping “pickers” fulfill 300 orders per hour, Amazon’s Kiva exemplifies how a high energy economy can create jobs while optimizing others, making processes more efficient and our work days a little easier....
Continue Reading...

WASHINGTON -- American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement about the House Republicans' proposed tax extenders deal: "The wind PTC was a bad idea yesterday, it’s a bad idea today, and it will be a bad idea tomorrow. "Over twenty percent of this extenders deal, nearly $10 billion, is a handout to AWEA and its allies like the League of Conservation Voters who spent $75 million during the midterm elections in an effort to defeat Republicans. Now the...
Continue Reading...