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Obama Must Open Federal Land to Energy Development
Tweet Share on Facebook February 8, 2013 CommentThomas J. Pyle is the president of the Institute for Energy Research.
With the economy shrinking last quarter by 0.1 percent and unemployment remaining at a pitiful 7.9 percent, President Obama and policymakers in Washington must begin looking at serious solutions to improve the economy. A recent study by Dr. Joseph Mason of Louisiana State University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton school provides a simple solution: allow more oil and natural gas production.
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EPA's Ethanol Mandates Are Costing Consumers
Tweet Share on Facebook February 7, 2013 CommentDaniel Kish is senior vice president at the Institute for Energy Research.
On Friday, the D.C. Circuit chastised the Environmental Protection Agency for favoring the biofuel industry instead of objectively projecting cellulosic ethanol production. You would think that the EPA would have been slightly cowed by the court, but they were not. Less than one week after the ruling, the agency has released new projections that are even more out of touch with reality than the projection that the court struck down. Sadly, the EPA's decision has consequences and in this case, it means higher gasoline prices at the pump.
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The U.S. Must Not Wage an Energy Trade War Against Itself
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2013 CommentPete Sepp is executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union.
Last week's disquieting news from the Commerce Department, that the U.S. economy contracted by an estimated 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 has generated a cacophony of pundits' voices. Shallow analysis holds that a massive decline in Pentagon spending is to blame, and that federal expenditure reductions are somehow suicidal in the future. But seasoned observers such as former Assistant Defense Secretary Lawrence Korb have noted that whatever slowdown there might have been is closely linked to the "use-the-money-or-lose-it" mentality among government agencies at the end of a fiscal year (which was the 3rd quarter). Furthermore, there were those little matters of the "fiscal cliff" and the "regulatory cliff," which were responsible for giving individuals and businesses worries over tax hikes and burdensome federal rules changes that would hit hard this year.
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Oil Prices Spike as Iran Nuclear Crisis Heats Up
Tweet Share on Facebook January 30, 2013 CommentGregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger knows that the pursuit of peace often requires artful negotiation as well as heavy lifting. He chooses his words with extreme discernment and precision.
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Yoko Ono Is Wrong on Fracking
Tweet Share on Facebook January 29, 2013 CommentMichael Lynch is the president and director of global petroleum service at Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
It's starting to look as if hydraulic fracturing of shales is becoming the "cause of the day.'" The past half century has seen opposition to: institutionalized racism (1960s), the Vietnam War (1960s/1970s), nuclear power (1980s), apartheid, (1980s/1990s), and most recently, Wall Street.
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Approving Keystone XL Pipeline Would Be a Big Win for Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2013 CommentDaniel Kish is senior vice president at the Institute for Energy Research.
Gov. Dave Heineman's approval this week of the Keystone XL pipeline reroute through Nebraska rocketed one of America's most important energy decisions back into headlines. After the president rejected the pipeline in 2012, the issue lay largely dormant. However, the governor's seal and subsequent letter to the president has set the stage for an all-or-nothing situation that will not only color American energy policy for years to come, but will create or destroy thousands of American jobs.
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Could a Pay-Per-Mile Plan Fix Our Interstate System?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 17, 2013 CommentGregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com
If there's one issue where states large and small from the Pacific to the Atlantic stand in solid agreement, it's that our Interstate system, highways, bridges and secondary roads have been neglected for too long. As you would expect, the discussion gets dicey when politicos start debating how to pay for it.
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Will EPA Chief’s Departure Prompt Better Energy Policy?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 15, 2013 CommentLast month's announcement from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson that she would be leaving her post touched off much speculation over the reasons for her decision. Though the agency itself toed an official line, some say Jackson was picking up stakes ahead of a brewing controversy over whether she used a pseudonym E-mail address to engage in harsh attacks on coal-produced energy. Others say Jackson is eying a run at public office in New Jersey.
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The Government Can't Mandate Green Energy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2013 CommentMichael Lynch is the president and director of global petroleum service at Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
The re-election of President Obama and the efforts to reduce the deficit are likely to see the country re-visit the issue of technology promotion, particularly with regards to photovoltaics and electric vehicles, two high-cost alternatives that receive extensive subsidies from federal and state governments. The Navy is also fighting to defend its biofuel policy, arguing that increased use will lead to lower costs. In California, the state has a notably aggressive program to require the sale of electric vehicles and, ultimately, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with the intention of making them economic in the future.
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Matt Damon's Promised Land Plays to Silly Fracking Stereotypes
Tweet Share on Facebook January 10, 2013 CommentDaniel Simmons is the director of state affairs at the Institute for Energy Research.
I was one of the brave few who saw Matt Damon's new movie Promised Land last week. The movie turned out to be enlightening, not for its exploration of the biggest development in energy in the last decade, but rather for the writers' and producers' view of business.
