Chances are, you haven’t heard of RFS, RINs, eRINs, RVOs, or maybe even RNG. I hadn’t. But if you are part of the agricultural and waste-industry interests that promote “biofuels,” you know all about them. They are the means by which fuel generated by corn, wood, waste from a landfill, or other “natural” biomass gets…
Category: ENVIRONMENT
The New York Times Gets It—Well, On the Other Hand, Maybe Not
The New York Times has noticed that the current electricity grid is not sufficient for all the wind and solar energy that the Biden administration thinks it should be carrying. Write Nadja Popovich and Brad Plumer: “The climate stakes are high. Last year, Congress approved hundreds of billions of dollars for solar panels, wind turbines,…
Monday Links: $20 to Address Climate Change?
Are Conservation Leases the Key to Resolving Competing Demands on Public Lands?
This guest post by Shawn Regan is a substantive analysis of the recent proposal by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management to allow leasing of public land for conservation purposes. Regan is vice president of research at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Mont.
Most conservation issues involve balancing competing uses of natural resources. Should a parcel of land be developed for energy production, harvested for timber, grazed by livestock, managed as wildlife habitat, or set aside as open space? In a world of scarce resources, the main question is: How do people best resolve these competing demands?
Inspector General Warns Energy Dept. about “Immense Risks” of Big New Lending Programs
The New York Times recently reported on the Dept. of Energy’s frantic effort to lend $400 billion before the election of 2024. In doing so, the Times article publicized a critical report by the Office of the Inspector General dated November 2022. That report, along with a memo to the energy secretary from Inspector General Teri Donaldson, identified numerous risks that had just been increased by the ballooning plans for loans. These increases (no surprise!) had been authorized by the CHIPS Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the IRA (“Inflation Reduction Act”).
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…