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."

Will the US Senate Stall Much-Needed Permitting Reforms?

In a last-gasp flurry of activity, the 119th House of Representatives in December moved forward a bevy of bills aimed at shortening the time frame and the costs required for federal permits for infrastructure projects, many of which are deemed vital to national security. That’s the good news. The bad news is that these bills […]

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Time to Build Reactors Fueled By Nuclear Waste

According to noted stock trader Ross Givens, many investors are pouring money into nuclear energy stocks that may never deliver. Innovative generation IV and V reactor designs remain unapproved by a slow-moving federal government. Yet investors remain hopeful that this bottleneck will soon be removed.   In the early years of America’s nuclear power industry,

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Japan Tries Out Osmotic Energy

Residents of the Japanese coastal city of Fukuoka are pioneering the world’s first full-sized osmotic power plant — which generates electricity by mixing fresh water with saltwater. The plant, which opened on August 5, generates about 880,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to run a nearby desalination facility and supply about 220 nearby homes. The concept of osmotic power is

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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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