The Institute for Energy Research (IER) analyzed the condition of refining and concluded that most closed refining units will stay closed. “About 375,000 barrels per day of the 1.482 million barrels per day of North American refining capacity shuttered since June 2019 may be eligible for restart. President Biden could make it easier for these…
Back to ‘Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up’: Court Drops Trump’s Common-Sense Rules on Endangered Species
“With this change, we’re back to the ‘shoot, shovel, and shut up’ status quo.” (PERC Tweet). A federal district court in California has vacated Trump-administration rules designed to make the Endangered Species Act more fair and effective. The most important rule dealt with the treatment of threatened species, which are species that are not yet…
Wind Energy Off the North Carolina Coast? No, Says John Locke Foundation
The John Locke Foundation, a free-market think tank in North Carolina, opposes the state’s plan to allow offshore wind turbines off the North Carolina coast. Author Jon Sanders says the expensive plan would raise electricity rates and reduce tourism while having no measurable impact on climate change. From the report (emphasis added) : Costs and…
Why the Supreme Court Reined in the EPA
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.)…
Interesting Links . . .
- No new gas stations in Los Angeles?
- Canada’s “Zero-Plastic Waste 2030” program will cost $13 billion (Canadian dollars), gain only $619 million benefit, says Fraser Institute’s Ken Green.
- Australian Scientists Discover Styrofoam-eating “superworm.”
- Supreme Court agrees to hear a case that would define “waters of the United States” for EPA regulatory purposes.
- Why does electricity usage go down? Income inequality, says Resources for the Future.
- Ford trying to get more congressional support for electric vehicles, says the Washington Post.
PERC: Slow Environmental Reviews Hold Back Wildfire Prevention
Parts of the West are engulfed by wildfire every year, mostly on U.S. Forest Service land. The Forest Service has two techniques to prevent wildfires: mechanical treatments (usually thinning the forest) and prescribed burns (setting controlled fires to clear brush and shrubs). But environmental reviews are causing drastic delays before the process can even start….