On April 17, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ban by Berkeley, California, on using natural gas in new construction. The court decided that the 1975 federal Energy and Conservation Act Law (EPCA) preempts local regulation of natural gas, Jonathan Adler in the Volokh Conspiracy said. Adler quoted the leading judge’s opinion: “By…
Search Results for: climate change
A Sad Commentary on Earth Day 2023
Sterling Burnett of the Heartland Institute ponders whether this is Earth Day or Vladimir Lenin’s birthday (it is both). He recounts recent governmental regulations affecting gas stoves, lightbulbs, electric cars and says: “This year, the authoritarian leanings of the elitist environmental cabal inside and outside the Biden administration are on full display. Never in the…
Menominee Indians Show How Forests Can Be Thinned
While the New York Times puts an anti-profit spin on the operation, the value of thinning forests comes through in an upbeat article by Cara Buckler. The Menominee, Wisconsin, tribe has had a “sustainable” forest for 160 years., she says. A big part of that success comes from culling the weaker trees, providing space for…
How Visible Are Off-Shore Wind Turbines?
The governor of North Carolina has adopted the Biden administration’s push toward renewables. He is requiring the state to aim at supplying 8.0 gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind by 2040. Those turbines will be near Brunswick County and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and thus near some of the state’s most appealing tourist spots. That…
Your Taxes at Work: Is This a Word Salad?
Another Biden administration funding plan: $250 million from the Environmental Protection Agency for climate planning and environmental justice. Writes Michael Brady of Smart Cities Dive: “The CPRG [Climate Pollution Reduction Grants] program aims to help state and local governments develop comprehensive climate plans that reduce climate pollution and maximize benefits, ‘especially for low-income and disadvantaged communities,’…
A Weak Defense of ESG in Investing
Two writers on the Harvard Business Review blog claim that ESG (that is, adding environmental, social, and governance criteria to investment decisions) is not bad when you stick to the straight and narrow: identifying material risks from non-financial criteria. “To us, ESG is simply about identifying material risk factors that matter to company profitability and…