The plastic bag police scored a victory in Seattle this week. The liberal enclave imposed a ban on plastic bags and a 5-cent tax on paper bags, joining other major cities in the latest nanny-state crackdown sweeping the nation. Seattle’s ban applies to all grocery, retail and convenience stores. It exempts farmers’ markets, however. The ordinance takes effect in July 2012. Seattle’s action comes three years after the City Council tried to impose a 20-cent tax on all bags. That idea was shot down by voters in a referendum. It’s …
President Barack Obama has a problem on his hands when even his stalwart allies at The New York Times have no choice but to admit to a glaring reality: The President’s “green jobs” promise has failed miserably. On Friday, the Times printed a harsh assessment of the state of the “green” economy—including a conclusion that the President’s promise to create five million green jobs over 10 years has proven to be nothing more than “a pipe dream,” with California’s Bay Area providing a particularly poignant example of how “green” jobs have …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. The Movie Obama Won’t Want You to See – James Jay Carafano, FoxNews.com Why Tea Party should resist gutting defense – John R. Bolton, The Washington Times Big Brother Goes Green – Audrey Hudson Solar, we have a problem – Nicolas Loris, Washington Times Taxes and Business, There We Go Again – Mark Green Gov’t May Be Lowballing Medicare Shortfall By $6 Trillion – David Hogberg, Investor’s Business Daily Police grants …
Wrongheaded environmental policies and “green” protectionism are endangering millions of jobs and costing consumers in both developing and developed countries. A new report about the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a global forest certification organization, entitled “Stop the War on the Poor—FSC and NGOs: Environmental Mythology,” highlights one aspect of the problem. The report, by the storied Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) that led the civil rights battles of the 1960s, details how green nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the FSC threaten companies and consumers into using more expensive FSC-certified paper …
Just how many jobs does President Barack Obama want to destroy in the name of going green? According to a new report by The Center for Automotive Research, the number could be as high as 264,500 jobs lost just from new automobile fuel efficiency standards being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Meanwhile, the cost of a new vehicle could go up by nearly $10,000 and sales could be reduced by 5.5 million vehicles annually. DBusiness pulls apart the report and finds that under the highest proposed mandate — which …
Someone should really tell the Department of Energy (DOE) about the federal government’s spending crisis. On Monday, it granted a $2.1 billion loan guarantee to a German developer to help finance a 1,000 megawatt solar thermal power plant in Southern California. But wait, there’s more. Add to that a $1.6 billion loan guarantee for another plant in California’s Mojave Desert, a $1.2 billion loan guarantee for one in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., and $967 million for a location in Arizona, all since February, according to a Forbes.com report. That’s …
It seemed so simple: To reduce energy use, Americans must abandon the old-fashioned incandescent light bulb in favor of new energy-efficient lighting. Congress even passed legislation in 2007 mandating a phase-out of the familiar “Edison” bulb in the name of saving energy. Now comes a study concluding that energy-efficient lighting will likely increase energy use. The study, sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is based on the observation that the percentage of gross national product spent on artificial lighting has …
The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 set lighting requirements that, in essence, outlaw the familiar incandescent light bulb. The impact of lighting mandates on energy security is minuscule, since electricity comes almost entirely from secure domestic sources, such as coal. (Petroleum generates about 1 percent of domestic electricity.) However, EISA’s impact on job security is pretty clear for 200 workers in Winchester, Va. This month General Electric will shut down the last major incandescent light bulb factory in the United States, and the 200 workers in Winchester …
The recent explosions in Massey’s Upper Big Branch coal mine and on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig highlight the tragedy of workplace fatalities. Though improvement in statistical averages do little to lessen the loss of those whose loved ones have died, the American workplace has gotten safer which means fewer will be grieving. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reached a record low in 2008: 3.6 per 100,000 full-time workers. Yet with the recent noted losses in the oil and coal industries, some might think that workplace fatalities could be …
From his sprawling new $9 million ocean-view villa in Montecito, California, with its high ceilings, wine cellar, terraces, six fireplaces, five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, pool and 6,500 square feet of living space, former Vice President Al Gore is asking a favor of the American people. He’d like you to tighten your belt and shell out big time for higher electric bills, all in the name of fighting global warming. In a renewable electricity standard (RES) proposal now before Congress, those costs would be huge. A new Heritage Foundation study modeled …
