When environmentalists first began to attack plastic grocery bags, they offered paper bags as the green alternative. When researchers pointed out, leaving aside consumer’s desire for plastic bags over other choices, that paper bags were as or more harmful to the environment as plastic bags, environmentalists were temporarily stymied in their assault. Then they turned [...]
In case you are visiting the Congressional gift shop, you might want to pick up the “Green Living” wheel which offers tips on how to live a more environmentally friendly life. Emblazoned with “U.S. House of Representatives” at the bottom, the cardboard wheel can be turned to reveal bits of environmental wisdom in a cutout [...]
Presidential Administrations come and go, and one thing they all have in common, even the most parsimonious of them, is that they enact thousands of pages of costly regulations that do little or nothing to protect the public’s health or enhance its welfare. The Obama administration, however, has put this trait in hyperdrive: pushing enormously [...]
Smart growth on steroids, or the radical densification policy of California, was the subject of my recent commentary in The Wall Street Journal — “California Declares War on Suburbia” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303302504577323353434618474.html?mod=rss_com_mostcommentart). Regional transportation plans in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Los Angeles area and the San Diego area seek to force the vast majority of [...]
With so much focus on the inefficiency of solar panels, few are aware of an even more costly solar technology called “thermal solar.” Like solar panels, the Obama Administration has offered billions in loan guarantees for thermal solar projects across the country. Also like solar panels, the thermal solar projects are starting to fall apart [...]
Obama’s ongoing “I didn’t do it,” apologetic concerning energy prices would be laughable if the current price crisis weren’t so sad for the American public and dangerous for an economy still struggling to pull itself out of a recession. Obama touts the fact that America imports less oil than previously, ignoring the fact that the [...]
Solar Millenium Solar Trust of America A123 Systems Ener1 What do these names have in common? Several things actually. They are all green energy companies, touted by President Obama as models for the new green economy. Each of them has received some form of federal help, tax breaks, direct grants and/or loan guarantees – cumulatively [...]
It has been a terrible month for the Obama administration’s overly zealous EPA in the federal courts. In ruling after ruling, the Administration’s unlawful, radical environmental rulings and regulations have been overturned. 1) The dominoes started to fall on February 18 when Judge Robert Hinkle of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of [...]
This week, the Wall Street Journal is hosting its ECO:nomics conference, discussing the state of green business. One panel featured an exchange between Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon and Paul Gallay of Riverkeepers. Gallay calls McClendon’s support of natural gas fracking “snake oil.” One particular claim stood out at me. He first argues that the [...]
There could hardly be a more stark contrast between the ability of the free market to provide effective environmental solutions and the failure of politically dictated efforts than the difference between the Toyota Prius C and the Chevy Volt. As is well known by now, the Chevy Volt production line has been halted for at [...]