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EPA Stifles Alaska’s Pebble Copper Mine
Tweet Share on Facebook May 3, 2013 CommentDaniel Kish is senior vice president at the Institute for Energy Research.
The Environmental Protection Agency took another step last week toward preemptively vetoing a potential copper mine in Alaska. In a revised draft assessment, the EPA claimed that tapping the vast Pebble copper deposit would threaten sockeye salmon in the Bristol Bay watershed. This unprecedented power grab is not based on an actual proposal, but on a hypothetical mine.
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Global Warming, Fracking, and the Trouble with Science
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2013 CommentMichael Lynch is the president and director of global petroleum service at Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
The term "anti-science" has become a part of our political lexicon, in part because of some actions by administrators working for George W. Bush, but certainly heightened by senior politicians admitting that they don't believe in evolution or recent comments about women's reproductive systems during rape by a senatorial candidate. But most often, it is trumpeted by those criticizing anyone who allegedly "denies" global warming.
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Why Are Gas and Oil Prices Falling?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2013 CommentGregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com
The U.S. average price of a gallon of gas today is $3.50 per gallon. A year ago it cost about 30 cents more. There are many factors contributing to the current decline in retail prices, but perhaps the most notable one is that the world is using less oil and gasoline.
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White House Again Pushes New Oil and Gas Taxes
Tweet Share on Facebook April 22, 2013 CommentPete Sepp is executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union.
Whatever else you can say about the Obama Administration's energy policies, you have to give it credit for consistency and perseverance. The White House consistently misrepresents tax deductions and other provisions as "subsidies." And it perseveres in its years-long, disastrous campaign to raise tens of billions in new taxes on America's domestic energy producers.
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EPA Nominee Gina McCarthy Set to Face the Senate
Tweet Share on Facebook April 10, 2013 CommentThomas J. Pyle is the president of the Institute for Energy Research.
Recently, President Obama chose Gina McCarthy to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As the EPA's top air regulation official, McCarthy has been busy writing regulations that drive up energy costs for American families.
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IMF Proposes Big U.S. Gas Tax Increase
Tweet Share on Facebook April 10, 2013 CommentGregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com
When you heard it the first time you may have needed some time to digest. The International Monetary Fund, as you've probably learned, is proposing that the U.S. impose a tax of $1.40 per gallon in order to pay for social programs around the world and to save the environment. "The time has come for subsidy reform and carbon taxation," the IMF's deputy director, David Lipton, said in a speech on March 26.
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Renewable Energy Is Still Not Ready
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2013 CommentMichael Lynch is the president and director of global petroleum service at Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
The past couple of years have seen an amazing transformation of the argument that oil and gas production will soon peak with catastrophic consequences, which has given way to the insistence that we don't really need fossil fuels. In a perverse reversal, the peak oil advocates have mostly stopped arguing that the petroleum resource is scarce, instead saying it is abundant but expensive, while the renewable proponents insist that renewable resources are enormous, and suggest that the costs are not unreasonable.
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GAO Report Unearths Duplicative Wind Programs
Tweet Share on Facebook April 2, 2013 CommentDaniel Simmons is the director of state affairs at the Institute for Energy Research.
In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama pledged to eliminate federal programs that are "excess weight." If the president still wants to keep this promise, he could start by tackling federal subsidies for wind energy, which a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says are rife with wasteful spending.
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President Obama Must Abandon New Taxes on Oil and Gas
Tweet Share on Facebook March 29, 2013 CommentPete Sepp is executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union.
Last week, in a narrow 50-49 vote cast after nearly 20 hours of debate, the United States Senate passed a budget resolution, marking the first time that the higher chamber has accomplished this basic task of government in four years.
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Rail Helps Get North American Oil to Refineries For Less
Tweet Share on Facebook March 27, 2013 CommentGregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com
For refineries, access to cheap oil can be the linchpin for critical business decisions. It was one of the reasons Sunoco and its refineries were sold to Energy Transfer Partners last year. It was simply a losing proposition, they said, to run refineries in Philadelphia that were too reliant on premium-priced Brent crude oil and inaccessible for lower cost crudes.
