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  • cap and trade

    Can’t Afford a New Car? Washington Partly to Blame

    The average price of a new car in 2012 was $30,500. Wondering why? One contributing factor is the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. All models from a single manufacturer must reach an average of 35.3 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016 and 54.5 mpg by 2025. The current … More

    EPA’s Jackson Leaves Legacy of Higher Costs, Less Consumer Choice

    Lisa Jackson will retire from her position as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this month as the most prolific regulator of her class of Obama administrators. This is not a distinction to be coveted. Under Jackson’s leadership, the EPA has issued 1,824 regulations. For context, the Department of … More

    Morning Bell: Obama’s Cap-and-Trade Scheme for Cars

    Ever since the Senate rejected President Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme in 2009, his administration has been hard at work to find other ways to implement a radical, environmentalist agenda. Obama made these intentions clear at a press conference in 2010 when he explained, “Cap and trade was just one way of … More

    Carbon Tax: NRDC Serves Up Stale Leftovers

    An old cartoon showed a customer sampling from a jar whose label is emblazoned with the words “New and Improved.” The customer asks what has changed and is told the company changed the label so that it now says “New and Improved.” This seems to be the idea behind the … More

    The Right Time for a Carbon Tax Is Never

    Once the electorate was made to realize that cap-and-trade bills (Lieberman-Warner, Waxman-Markey, etc.) were actually taxes on fossil energy, cap and trade became political poison. So it is surprising that an explicit tax on fossil energy is now being pushed in Washington. The hope among carbon-tax proponents is that they … More

    Hurricane Sandy Causes Foggy Thinking on Climate

    Disappointed with the lack of global warming discussion in the current presidential campaign, tabloid climatologists have latched onto Hurricane Sandy as their vehicle for relevance. The more reserved among them use lines like “Though we cannot prove that global warming caused Hurricane Sandy, the scientists predict there will be more … More

    The Second Coming of Cap and Trade?

    The Obama Administration, at this sensitive time, is playing down its expansive regulatory agenda, but some insiders are predicting a new onslaught of costly rules—including the imposition of cap-and-trade schemes on industry. Although Congress rejected cap-and-trade legislation in 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) remains intent on effectively rationing the … More

    Left-Wing Environmentalists Solicit ‘Conservative and Libertarian’ Policies

    An effort funded by a major left-wing environmentalist group is looking to appeal to conservative and libertarian thinkers through an initiative that proposes center-right solutions to environmental problems. The Meridian Institute’s “Twelve Big Ideas for 2012″ is funded by the Environmental Defense Fund, a group that uses its massive lobbying … More

    Obama’s Ten Worst Energy Policies

    In his time in office, President Obama has made some seriously bad proposals and decisions on energy policy, and Americans are paying the price, whether it’s in higher energy costs, wasted tax dollars, or in jobs that have been left on the table. For those who aren’t keeping track, we’ve … More

    Morning Bell: ‘Buying’ House Votes for Unpopular Legislation

    An examination of “administrative earmarks” around the time of congressional votes on key pieces of President Obama’s agenda suggests the White House used its power to fund local projects as a means to “buy” votes for major legislative efforts. Administrative earmarking refers to the federal government’s allocation of funds from … More