In the Washington Examiner this week, CEI’s Iain Murray crunched the numbers, and found, “global warming professors are the tenth highest paid profession in the nation and the third highest paid profession in the public sector. In terms of median earnings, they are paid as much as the average private sector CEO.”

Inside the Beltway

Myron Ebell

Inhofe-Upton Legislation Introduced

Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), the Ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, on Thursday introduced identical bills to pre-empt the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act until authorized by Congress. The Energy Tax Prevention Act is H. R. 910 in the House and S. 482 in the Senate.

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The “Fill Rule” Controversy Explained

by William Yeatman on March 2, 2011

in Blog, Features

Post image for The “Fill Rule” Controversy Explained

Elsewhere, I’ve described two fronts the Obama administration is waging against coal production in Appalachia (see here and here).

Since the President took office, environmentalists have been urging the administration to open a third front against Appalachian coal. This one pertains to the so-called “fill rule.” Here’s how the Sierra Club describes it: “In 2002, the Bush administration changed a key Clean Water Act rule to allow mining companies to dump their waste into waterways. Known as the “Fill Rule,” it allows mountaintop removal coal mine operators to bury Appalachian streams with their waste.”

As I demonstrate below, virtually the whole of the Sierra Club’s characterization of the “fill rule” is incorrect, starting with the fact that the rule originated with the Clinton administration, not the Bush administration. In fact, the “fill rule” is a relatively innocuous regulation that acts primarily to allow the EPA’s long held definition of “fill material” to trump that of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The “Fill Rule”: A Tortuous History

The Clean Water Act prohibits all pollution discharges into navigable waters, unless the “polluter” obtains a permit. Generally speaking, there are two such variances: (1) Section 402 permits, for “point source” discharges (like a pipe), which are issued by the EPA or by a state agency whose guidelines are EPA-approved and (2) 404 permits, for “dredge and fill” projects (such as filling a swamp to create a new housing development), which are issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in accordance with guidelines set by the EPA.

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Climate Science: 10th Highest Paid Profession

by William Yeatman on March 2, 2011

in Blog, Features

Post image for Climate Science: 10th Highest Paid Profession

My colleague Iain Murray today has an interesting post at the Washington Examiner, about the surprisingly green salaries enjoyed by climate scientists. This excerpt aptly sums his point,

So global warming professors are the tenth highest paid profession in the nation and the third highest paid profession in the public sector. In terms of median earnings, they are paid as much as the average private sector CEO.

Mothers, have your daughter marry a global warming professor!

Read the full post here.

Senator Dianne Feinstein Passionately Defends a Program She Voted Against

by William Yeatman on March 1, 2011

in Blog, Features

Post image for Senator Dianne Feinstein Passionately Defends a Program She Voted Against

I’ve been a vehement critic of the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program (see here and here). In a nutshell, I argue that the DOE has no business starting a bank from scratch. Even if it could cobble together the necessary expertise and infrastructure, the U.S. government has a long history of picking losers in the energy market (see: breeder reactors, synfuels).

My case against the DOE’s green bank has been made persuasively by the Government Accountability Office, the top federal watchdog. In 2007, 2008, and 2010, the GAO released reports concluding that the program is being not being run well.

My case was further made by the pending collapse of the first recipient of a loan guarantee. In September 2009, the DOE issued a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a company that you may recall from reports of it being a total financial disaster. It canceled an IPO after a PriceWaterhouse Cooper audit found that the company’s shaky finances “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” Evidently, Solyndra already has lost $557 million. In November, the company announced that it would shutter a plant and lay off 170 employees.

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Update on the States

by William Yeatman on February 28, 2011

in Blog, Politics

Louisiana

Three weeks ago, a federal judge in Louisiana found the Department of the Interior in contempt for its moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico enacted in the wake of last year’s BP spill. As a result of the ruling, the government will have to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees, but it didn’t impact the moratorium, which was lifted on October 22, 2010. Despite the end of the de jure moratorium, the Obama administration has kept in place a de facto moratorium through bureaucratic foot-dragging.

Two weeks ago, the same U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman, lifted this de facto moratorium, by granting a preliminary injunction requiring that the Interior Department act within 30 days on five pending permit applications. According to Judge Martin’s ruling, “Delays of four months and more in the permitting process, however, are unreasonable, unacceptable and unjustified by the evidence before the court.”

New Hampshire

By a 246 to 104 vote, the New Hampshire House of Representatives last week passed HB 519, legislation that would withdraw New Hampshire from a regional energy-rationing scheme known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Governor John Lynch (D) promised to veto the bill before it was introduced, but this week’s vote is veto-proof. The State Senate is expected to pass HB 519 with enough votes to overturn the Governor’s promised veto.

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Cooler Heads Digest 25 February 2011

by William Yeatman on February 25, 2011

in Blog, Cooler Heads Digest

In the News

Time To Put the REINS on EPA
Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org, 25 February 2011

Interview with Freeman Dyson
Steve Conner, The Independent, 25 February 2011

EnviroPoll: Global Warming Is “Overblown”
Paul Chesser, American Spectator, 24 February 2011

The Gore Effect Strikes Canada
Greg Pollowitz, Planet Gore, 24 February 2011

IG Report Sheds New Light on Climategate Scandal
Steve McIntyre, ClimateAudit.org, 23 February 2011

Industry Has Spoken…Will the President Listen?
Kenneth Green, The American, 23 February 2011

She’s Leaving, on a (Surely) Private Plane
Chris Horner, AmSpecBlog, 22 February 2011

Hiding the Decline
Judith Curry, Climate Etc, 22 February 2011

Don’t Overreact to Possible Global Warming
Jay Ambrose, Detroit News, 21 February 2011

News You Can Use

Alarmist Myth Debunked

Global warming alarmists long have warned that rising temperatures would destroy the ocean’s coral reefs. But World Climate Report this week notes a new study in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters demonstrating that warming oceans expand the range of tropical corals northward along the coast of Japan. At the same time, the corals are remaining stable at the southern end of their ranges. That is, corals are expanding, not contracting.

Inside the Beltway

Myron Ebell

Late last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends on September 30. H.R. 1 makes significant but not huge cuts in federal spending.

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Update on the States

by William Yeatman on February 22, 2011

in Blog, Politics

New Hampshire

Legislation that would withdraw New Hampshire from a regional energy-rationing scheme gained momentum last week. HB 519, which would pull New Hampshire out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade for 10 northeastern States, was approved by the House Science Technology and Energy Committee and endorsed by House Speaker William O’Brien. Two weeks ago, Governor John Lynch (D) preemptively threatened to veto the bill, but Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the State Legislature, so if they stick together, they can end this energy tax.

Kentucky

Outrage at the EPA’s campaign against coal is bipartisan in Kentucky. Last month, a top Democratic lawmaker, Jim Gooch, called for “secession” from the green regulatory state. Last week, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the State Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee passed a bill that would make Kentucky a “sanctuary state” out of reach of the EPA’s “overreaching regulatory power.” The symbolic legislation is expected to easily win passage in the full Senate.

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The DOE’s Awful Green Bank

by William Yeatman on February 18, 2011

in Blog

My CEI colleague Chris Horner and I have a piece in today’s Daily Caller, on the Department of Energy’s awful green bank.

This excerpt aptly summarizes out take:

The point of a green investment bank is ostensibly to facilitate the commercialization of new, dormant or otherwise commercially unsuccessful technologies by providing easier financing than is available in the real world, where people scrutinize where they invest their money. It turns bureaucrats into bankers, but with your money, and no real-world incentives to “invest,” as the word connotes and denotes.

Critics argue that these bureaucrats are picking winners and losers. If only. In fact, they just pick from losers.

I especially like that last line, about how the green energy industry is a loser. As Chris and I have explained elsewhere, any industry, like green energy, that owes its creation to government handouts is fundamentally uncompetitive, and, therefore, will always be on the taxpayer dole.

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Cooler Heads Digest 18 February 2011

by William Yeatman on February 18, 2011

in Blog, Cooler Heads Digest

In the News

Breaking the Ice
Nicholas Lewis & Matt Ridley, U.K. Spectator, 18 February 2011

Hitting the EPA Pause Button: What Are the Risks?
Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org, 17 February 2011

Green Investment Bank Should Make Taxpayers See Red
Chris Horner & William Yeatman, Daily Caller, 17 February 2011

Galileo and the Scientific Pose of the Left
Robert Tracinski, RealClearPolitics.com, 17 February 2011

Oil Ban Means More Debt
Washington Times editorial, 16 February 2011

Consumer Choice Extinguished with Light Bulb Ban
Manny Lopez, Detroit News, 16 February 2011

The Absolute Madness of Ethanol
Robert Bryce, Washington Times, 16 February 20111

The California Green Debauch
George Gilder, American Spectator, 16 February 2011

The New Old Bulb
Henry Payne, Planet Gore, 14 February 2011

Clean Energy Standard: Not Good for National Security
H. Sterling Burnett, NCPA Energy Blog, 11 February 2011

Green Central Planning in the Name of Jobs
John Stossel, FoxNews.com, 14 February 2011

News You Can Use

Another Alarmist Myth Debunked

In the wake of seemingly every anomalous weather event, global warming alarmists are quick to blame climate change. The Wall Street Journal this week reported on new research, conducted by The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project, using super-computers to generate a dataset of global atmospheric circulation from 1871 to the present. The researchers were “surprised” to find no evidence of an intensifying weather trend.

Inside the Beltway

Myron Ebell

Rep. Walberg Introduces Companion to Barrasso Bill

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) has introduced a House version of Senator John Barrasso’s (R-Wyo.) bill to block all regulation of greenhouse gas emissions until Congress decides to provide such authority. H. R. 750 is thus more comprehensive than the Inhofe-Upton-Whitfield draft bill that only pre-empts Clean Air Act regulation. It will be interesting to see how many co-sponsors Walberg’s bill will attract. Barrasso’s bill has 16 other Senators on board.

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For Natural Gas, the Other Shoe Drops

by William Yeatman on February 17, 2011

in Blog, Features

Post image for For Natural Gas, the Other Shoe Drops

For years, certain natural gas producers, led by Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, have pursued a myopic strategy of demonizing coal in an effort to seize a larger share of the electricity generation market.

It started in 2008, when Chesapeake funded an unsigned “Dirty Coal” advertising campaign. It featured black and white photos of children, with coal smudged faces, looking sad. Having set the table with anti coal propaganda, McClendon then teamed up with the Sierra Club’s Carl Pope to implement a legislative strategy. The pair traveled around the country, pitching natural gas as the “bridge fuel” to a green energy future.

They scored one major success, in Colorado. There, ex-Governor Bill Ritter had made the “New Energy Economy,” the centerpiece of his administration. As such, he was receptive to fuel switching as a way to meet his Climate Action Plan, a non-binding mandate to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 20% below 2008 levels. As I’ve written about at length here, the Ritter Administration engaged in a number of deceptions to carry Chesapeake’s water.

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William Yeatman

Cooler Heads Digest 4 March 2011

In the News

News You Can Use

Inside the Beltway

The “Fill Rule” Controversy Explained

Climate Science: 10th Highest Paid Profession

Senator Dianne Feinstein Passionately Defends a Program She Voted Against

Update on the States

Cooler Heads Digest 25 February 2011

In the News

News You Can Use

Inside the Beltway

Update on the States

The DOE’s Awful Green Bank

Cooler Heads Digest 18 February 2011

In the News

News You Can Use

Inside the Beltway

For Natural Gas, the Other Shoe Drops

Cooler Heads Digest

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