From a news release: “On June 9, 2021, Governor [Cooper] issued Executive Order No. 218 highlighting North Carolina’s commitment to offshore wind power as the state transitions to a clean energy economy.” “. . . a clean energy economy”? This is a misnomer. Does anybody remember what dirty energy was? Sooty, full of particulates and sulfur dioxide—it…
The Offshore Wind Energy Problem: Government Overregulation, Disincentives, and Anti-market Policies
This is a guest post by Jon Sanders, director of the Center for Food, Power, and Life at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a previous post on this site indicated, I have written a paper for the John Locke Foundation opposing the North Carolina governor’s plan for wind power offshore. Is…
The Dangerous Turn to Conservation Syndicates
For 30 years, I was an appraiser and a frequent expert witness on the value of property. Sometimes government agencies would condemn property under eminent domain, and I would estimate what the agency should pay the owner; at other times, I estimated the value of land or easements given to a conservation group such as…
Behind the Turmoil in Sri Lanka: Government Ban on Synthetic Fertilizers and Pesticides
Sri Lanka, the island country off the coast of India, is in political turmoil and the president says he will resign. A big factor in the tragedy is the country’s “going green,” banning synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Aljazeera reports: “President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s drive to make the country the world’s first to fully adopt organic agriculture—by…
Anti-Nuclear Energy Protests: Did Companies and Greens Collude?
Lee Bressler argues on his blog, The Lee Show: “Producers of fossil fuels want to undermine nuclear energy, so they funded large groups of ‘green’ protesters. “ “These protesters were useful idiots who staged protests and political activism to try to have nuclear plants shut down, block new plants from being built, and advocate for…