Remember the snail darter (or, more likely, hearing about it)? In 1975, the Endangered Species Act temporarily halted construction of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River because it would endanger the habitat of the snail darter, a three-inch fish (shown above). The snail darter will be taken off the list, reports Dino Grandoni…
Search Results for: climate change
The New Trade in Non-Production (of Carbon)
The pressure to “do something” about global warming has created exotic new programs that emphasize reducing output. You might think of them as markets in non-production. I will explain them. Carbon offsets. Companies that produce or use fossil fuels are trying to reduce their “carbon footprint” but still continue their business. They are purchasing “offsets”—that…
The Carbon Tax that Failed
It’s not been widely publicized, but the carbon tax in British Columbia has failed to bring about reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the province. That point is made by Kris Sims of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in an article in the Asian Pacific Post. She writes: “Government documents show that emissions in B.C. have…
The Fantastical World of Carbon Offsets
In a tongue-in-cheek article in RealClearEnergy, Steve Milloy observes that Norway has figured out how to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions while still building up its oil and gas production by 40 percent, providing a lesson for the rest of the world. Norway is buying “carbon offsets” in the African country of Gabon, paying the Gabonese to…
API Endorses Carbon Pricing, But Biden Doesn’t
The American Petroleum Institute, the leading U. S. trade association for the oil and gas industry, has changed its position on carbon pricing. On March 25, it announced that it now supports “sensible legislation that prices carbon across all economic sectors while avoiding regulatory duplication.” The API’s statement of principles on carbon pricing set some…
Biden’s ’30 by 30′ Plan: 30 percent of U.S. Land ‘Protected’ by 2030
President Biden plans to raise the percentage of land “protected” in the United States from about 12 percent to 30 percent over the next nine years. That would mean protecting an additional area more than four times the size of California. From the White House fact sheet: “The order commits to the goal of conserving…