On June 30 the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, decided that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, a major change in the way carbon dioxide from power plants would be regulated, had exceeded the agency’s authority. (The plan had not gone into effect, partly because of multiple legal challenges, which ended on Thursday.)…
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Are You Paying to Save a Forest that Won’t Be Cut Down Anyway?
This blog has long raised questions about carbon offsets. And now the New York Times is ruminating over them, too—in particular, over the amounts of money that airline passengers pay to “offset” their use of jet fuel. Some airlines (such as Air Canada and KLM) allow you to get rid of travel guilt by paying…
ESG Funds Are Investing in Ukraine and Russia?
Yes they are, the Wall Street Journal reported on April 2. And a big ESG investment backfired when the two countries went to war. ESG stands for “environmental, social, and governance” strategies. Funds like BlackRock’s ESG funds, explains writer Matt Wirz, obtain investors by “promising to boost returns while bettering the world by avoiding countries…
A Eulogy to Richard Stroup, Free Market Environmentalist
John Baden, long-time friend and colleague of Richard L. Stroup, wrote a eulogy to Rick, who died November 18. (For more about John, look here.) “Rick was one of the first professors I met at Montana State University. Generous with his time and counsel, he greatly influenced my career. And it was a treat to…
A Half-Century of Disproven Pessimism
Writing on his blog Master Resource, Robert L. Bradley, Jr. points out that “an optimistic view of future climate has a strong basis in settled science (CO2 fertilization, modest primary warming), just as climate pessimistic has a more speculative basis (as in debated feedback effects to elevate the initial warming).” Bradley reviews “the poor track…
The Biden Energy Package: 25 Moves That Push Up Prices
Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group, has compiled a list of Biden administration policies that are pushing up prices of energy. A sampling of the 25 actions: #1 and 2: Adopting new EPA oil and gas rules Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new regulations governing methane emissions from oil and gas production, transmission, storage,…