The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted another Washington regulation that is holding back the economy. But this one can’t be blamed on President Obama, because it was enacted over 90 years ago. The protectionist Jones Act requires shippers transporting goods between two points in the United States to use vessels …
Dismal jobs reports and high unemployment continue to weigh down the U.S. economy, but there are a few bright spots. Most notable among them: energy production, particularly the shale oil and shale gas revolution. The technological one-two punch of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has created a remarkable energy boom …
This Friday, the House of Representatives will vote on the No More Solyndras Act, which would prohibit any new loan guarantees from Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. For applications that are already under consideration or have received conditional commitment, the bill would require the Secretary of …
Reading President Obama’s latest Executive Order (EO) on industrial energy efficiency, one would think American companies were not interested in saving money and gaining a competitive advantage: While our manufacturing facilities have made progress in becoming more energy efficient over the past several decades, there is an opportunity to accelerate …
In the midst of one of the most severe droughts on record, Washington’s ethanol mandate is making the corn shortage even worse. Markets have responded quickly and flexibly to the drought where they can, but some corn buyers are sidelined by the rigid government ethanol mandate. Corn prices are skyrocketing, …
Efforts to protect the environment in America have ignored the most powerful force for improving the environment: free people. The results of these misguided policies have been higher energy prices, lower incomes, less access to resources, and technological stagnation—often failing to produce tangible environmental benefits. It doesn’t have to be …
The production tax credit (PTC) for wind energy is set to expire at the end of this year, but its supporters are arguing for an everlasting extension using twisted logic. For a while, the argument was that businesses need certainty. The law as it currently stands provides certainty—eligibility for the …
“What is radiation?” That simple, three-word question largely embodies the concerns that many Americans have about nuclear power. The answer can be just as complicated as one wants to make it. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, radiation is “energy radiated in the form of waves or particles.” Jim Hopson puts it …
