Over 300 scientists, engineers, economists, and other scholars last week sent a letter to Congressman Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, in support of the Committee’s efforts to implement greater accountability for the scientific work of federal agencies involved in climate research, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Environmental Protection Agency … [Read more...]
Unelected, Unaccountable Greens Dictated Clean Power Plan to EPA
Emails obtained by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute under FOIA demonstrate that EPA almost certainly violated federal law by using private email to correspond with the Natural Resources Defense Council, correspondence in which NRDC essentially drafted critical parts of the "Clean Power Plan," or even, as the Wall Street Journal puts it, "the rule," not just critical parts. Imagine if some pro-coal organization(s) had done the same in the preparation of an EPA regulation. The Left … [Read more...]
One Small Step toward Reining in the EPA
A Cincinnati-based federal court recently put a hold on the federal EPA's controversial "Waters of the United States" rule that would have put farm ponds, drainage ditches, and similar waters, by no means navigable, under its rule, constituting a huge expansion of EPA authority at the expense of states' sovereignty and property owners' rights. As Larry Bell writes, Applying EPA’s interpretation, the agency defines waters of the United States so broadly that they could regulate virtually any wet … [Read more...]
Senate Committee Issues Damning Report on EPA’s “Sue and Settle” Practices
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee last month issued a damning 73-page report, by the Committee's Majority Staff, exposing the widespread and corrupting use of "sue and settle" practices by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the Obama Administration, to form and promote its policies. It's not pleasant reading, and citizens who favor transparency, accountability, and equal access and oppose secrecy, autocracy, and favoritism in government agencies need to be … [Read more...]
It’s Official: July 2015 Is, and Isn’t, the Hottest Month on Record!
NOAA breathlessly reports, "July 2015 was warmest month ever recorded for the globe." CNN, USA Toady---oops, that's USA Today---, BBC, and lots of other mainstream media lapdogs all obediently reported it. But laymen need to pause for a deep breath before panicking. First, "ever recorded" means back to 1880 (conveniently leaving out the Holocene Climate Optimum, Minoan Warm Period, Roman Warm Period, and Medieval Warm Period, all of which exceeded modern temperatures), and "recorded" means by … [Read more...]
Ethanol: A Federally Mandated Killer
Terry Scanlon of the Capital Research Center leads his latest email this way: When you gas your car with 10% ethanol, you're dragged into the Renewable Fuel Standard morass run by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). This environmentalist policy is so terrible, even the greens have turned against it. But as a government program, it's immortal. Our latest "Green Watch" documents how this disaster funnels money from consumers to crony capitalists, reduces your car's mileage, raises food … [Read more...]
Supreme Court Vindicates Cornwall Alliance on Mercury Emissions
Monday, July 1, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the law by imposing regulations on mercury emissions from power plants without first doing thorough benefit/cost estimates. Nearly four years ago the Cornwall Alliance published a study by environmental regulatory economics Dr. Timothy Terrell, The Cost of Good Intentions: The Ethics and Economics of the War on Conventional Energy, that made that very point. Dr. Terrell comments on the … [Read more...]
Supreme Court Gets One Right: Strikes Down EPA’s Mercury Regulation
On Tuesday, June 30, the US Supreme Court issued its decision on Michigan v. EPA, regarding the EPA’s regulation of mercury emissions from power plants. Burning coal and oil releases mercury into the atmosphere, which scientists have said can eventually be absorbed into fish and thereby wind up in humans who eat the fish. Excess mercury can cause neurological damage, though there is some doubt about how much of that can be attributed to U.S. power plants. In Michigan v. EPA, the EPA claimed … [Read more...]
Obama’s “Climate Education and Literacy Initiative”: How Do You Spell “I-N-D-O-C-T-R-I-N-A-T-I-O-N”?
With Obamacare obviously failing to provide promised affordable health care and falling apart in the face of legal challenges and states’ refusal to participate, it’s becoming increasingly clear that President Obama has decided to make ending “climate change” his legacy. “If you believe, like I do, that something has to be done on this, then you’re going to have to speak out,” Obama told students and faculty at the University of California at Irvine last June. “You’ve got to educate your … [Read more...]
American Lung Association in Cahoots with EPA
A new American Lung Association (ALA) television ad supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed new rule requiring a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions from power plants by 2030, pushing the lie that CO2 emissions are harmful to human health. The ALA ad, entitled “a mother’s instinct,” shows a child’s toy, a baby monitor, and a sleeping baby, then cuts to a shot of a power plant and states, “The Clean Air Act stops polluters from poisoning his air with arsenic, lead, and mercury. … [Read more...]
