Duggan Flanakin

Duggan Flanakin is Senior Policy Analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow. A former Senior Fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Mr. Flanakin authored definitive works on the creation of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and on environmental education in Texas. A brief history of his multifaceted career appears in his book, "Infinite Galaxies: Poems from the Dugout."

Are Petty Politics Dooming AGOA Renewal?

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act expired on September 30, despite numerous efforts to continue the program that for 25 years has enabled sub-Saharan African businesses to export their products to the United States duty-free. The chief culprit, it appears evident, is the petty politics largely designed to prevent the Trump Administration from functioning. Congress

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Trump’s approach to Africa: Just what the doctor ordered

Sixteen years ago, Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo published Dead Aid, where she demonstrated an inverse relationship between receipt of government-to-government aid and economic growth and prosperity. Government-to-government aid, she said, fuels corruption, encourages inflation, increases recipient nations’ debt load, kills exports, causes civil unrest, frustrates entrepreneurship, and disenfranchises citizens. Moyo’s better idea was freer trade (European

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Nuclear Energy Projects Moving Forward Quickly Now

Less than two weeks after President Trump signed a series of executive orders intended to “usher in a nuclear energy renaissance” in the United States, major nuclear energy projects have suddenly moved forward. The bureaucracies at the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, long known for stalling nuclear projects, seem to have undergone

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NEPA Reform Time

A law designed to protect the environment has been harming Americans for decades. Now it’s time to fix it. On Billie Joe McAllister Day, the U.S. Supreme Court shockingly issued an 8-0 decision (Justice Gorsuch abstaining) that substantially limits the scope of the 55-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, the nation’s foundational environmental law. The decision

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Trump Takes Steps Toward a Nuclear Future

President Donald Trump, surrounded by Cabinet officials and representatives of the U.S. nuclear industry, signed five executive orders on May 23 that he believes will usher in a nuclear energy renaissance in the United States and restore “gold standard science” in federal decision making. Regulatory overkill has been identified as the chief reason (along with

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