Institute for Energy Research

Is There Economic Consensus on Climate Bills?

The Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) recently released a survey [.pdf] of 144 leading economists who have published peer-reviewed articles on climate change. In the media blitz accompanying the release of the study, IPI spokespeople sold its results as a "consensus" among expert economists comparable to that of the climate scientists. They gave the average person the impression that only a fool or a tool of big business could possibly oppose the Waxman-Markey or Kerry-Boxer bills.

Facts Are Stubborn Things

Last week the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11-1 to pass the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade energy tax. Some of the Committee’s members wanted to delay that vote until the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts a complete economic analysis of the bill’s expected costs to American consumers and the nation’s economy, but Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer refused to wait, arguing that EPA has already done a “full-blown analysis” of the legislation.

Top Secret: “Green Jobs” Would Not Exist Without Massive Taxpayer Subsidies, Corporate H

Washington, DC – As part of the ongoing efforts in the US Senate to enact sweeping, energy-rationing legislation, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing today entitled “Climate Change Legislation: Considerations for Future Jobs.” Following the hearing, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the non-partisan, market-oriented Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued this statement:

Stimulus Funds for Green Energy Projects Going Offshore along with Other U.S. Manufacturing

The Obama Administration sold its $787 billion stimulus plan on the basis of improving the economy through investing in green energy and by doing so, increasing employment in the United States. But what is actually happening, particularly with wind and solar projects, is that the majority of the manufactured components are being built offshore in either Asia or Europe, resulting in foreign countries capturing a good deal of our stimulus funds and finding a lucrative haven for their products in the United States.

BUSTED: Oregon “Green Energy” Backers Accused of Cooking the Books, Deliberately Hiding

The Oregonian: “State officials deliberately underestimated the cost … to lure green energy companies to Oregon with big taxpayer subsidies, resulting in a program that cost 40 times more than unsuspecting lawmakers were told…”

China: The Looming Giant

While China's Gross Domestic Product is currently less than half of the United States, China's economy is expected to exceed the U.S.'s in just 15 years. Unlike the United States, China's is working to dramatically increase its access to energy, both domestically and abroad. While the Obama Administration pulls back oil and gas leases,[1] halts a program to allow commercial oil shale leasing,[2] keeps new offshore energy exploration under lock and key,[3] and pushes for an energy tax under the name of cap-and-trade,[4] China is securing and expanding its energy resources around the world and at home.

Wind Lobby Huffs and Puffs, But Can’t Blow the Facts Away

We do not understand why IER gets the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) so spun up. Maybe it's because of our opposition to government subsidies. Maybe it's because we don't believe that government mandates forcing people to buy energy from expensive, inefficient sources is good for the economy. Or perhaps it is because of our belief that consumers, not Washington, should choose the sources of energy they think is best for them.

CBO Testimony Misleads on Cost of Cap and Trade

Only in Washington D.C. would a program that costs hundreds of billions of dollars and perhaps over one trillion dollars, be called "comparatively modest." But that's what Congressional Budget Office (CBO) director Douglas Elmendorf said about the costs of cap-and-trade in his recent testifimony [.pdf] before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Highest Cost Generating Plant Comes On Line in Florida to Obama Fanfare

Florida Power & Light (FPL) has built a 25 megawatt photovoltaic power plant in Southern Florida that will supply power to 3000 homes and businesses–a small fraction of the company’s over 4 million customers.[i] And, when the plant comes on-line Tuesday, October 26, 2009, President Obama will travel to Florida in Air Force One to promote the largest US photovoltaic plant and the carbon dioxide emissions it will displace.

Senators Kerry and Boxer release another version of their cap-and-trade bill

Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer have yet again released a new version of their cap-and-trade energy tax bill. Since the last version was released, the bill has grown by another 102 pages and now tips the scales at 923 pages.

The U.S. doubles down on solar subsidies while Europe retreats

The cap and trade bills circulating in Congress (such as H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey bill) not only “tax” the people of the nation for the right to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country, but they contain additional energy-related “tax” provisions.[i] One of these is a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that requires 20 percent of electricity generation to come from qualified renewable technologies by 2020.[ii]

The Other Half of Waxman-Markey

On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey bill. Generally, Waxman-Markey bill is thought of as a cap-and-trade bill, but it is far more than that. Of the bill’s 1,428 pages, merely half are dedicated to cap-and-trade. Dr. Robert Michaels, a Senior Fellow with IER, examined the non-cap-and-trade provisions of the Waxman-Markey bill.  He found that the rest of the bill is packed with regulations that would completely alter the United States’ economy. He argues that even without cap-and-trade, Waxman-Markey is the most repressive package of new taxes, wealth transfers and obstacles to economic activity that a Congress has ever assembled.

Study: The Other Half of Waxman-Markey: An Examination of the Non-Cap-And-Trade Provisions

The massive energy-regulating bill (H.R. 2454) the House of Representatives passed in June 2009 is now before the Senate. Though the cap-and trade program has received most of the media and public attention surrounding Waxman-Markey, the rest of the bill (at least 628 pages) could create economic harm just as great as cap-and-trade. Without cap-and-trade, H.R. 2454 might still be the most far-reaching, counterproductive package of new taxes, transfers and obstacles to economic growth and liberty ever assembled in one bill.

Mass Subsidization of Green Jobs “Unsustainable”

WASHINGTON – Earlier today, the trade panel of the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing entitled “Growing U.S. Trade in Green Technology.” Institute for Energy Research (IER) board member Steven Hayward, a fellow of law and economics at the American Enterprise Institute, was among those asked to testify.

REJECTED: High Court Denies Government Request to Hear Offshore Royalty Case

Washington, DC – Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued the following statement today on news that the Supreme Court has rejected an Interior Department request to reconsider a lower court ruling regarding oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico:

Senators Boxer and Kerry unveil their cap and trade bill

Senators Boxer and Kerry unveiled their cap-and-trade bill energy tax bill today. [Boxer-Kerry bill available here.] The bill is very similar to the drafts they released yesterday. It’s too early to fully analyze the bill, but a few things are clear from the outset.

Main Street Under Cap-and-Trade Attack

WASHINGTON—As Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) are expected to release their version of a cap-and-trade global warming bill this week, the Institute for Energy Research (IER), a non-profit free market energy think tank, today released a new study that demonstrates the ways that cap-and-trade, as outlined in the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill, would benefit the nation’s wealthy and politically favored industries while placing a harmful burden on America’s struggling middle and lower income families.

Blockbuster Study: Working-Class Bears Burden of Cap-and-Trade

WASHINGTON – With Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) expected to reveal a draft of the Senate’s climate bill this week, free-market think tank Institute for Energy Research (IER) released a new analysis today outlining how cap-and-trade would precipitate a financial windfall for well-connected special interests and politically-favored companies.

Boxer-Kerry draft energy regulation bill promises higher energy prices

In advance of Senator Boxer and Kerry’s release of their energy regulation bill tomorrow, two advance drafts were released today. [Boxer-Kerry Draft 1 is available here. Boxer-Kerry Draft 2 is available here.] From these drafts it appears that the Boxer-Kerry bill will dramatically increase regulation, provide new entitlements to politically-connected groups, and give corporate rent-seekers a new source of Federal dollars. As a result of Boxer-Kerry, the American people will be forced to endure higher energy prices and onerous regulation.

Spanish Prof. to Congress: Avoid Spain’s Failed Experiment with “Green Jobs”

WASHINGTON – Spanish professor Gabriel Calzada appeared before the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming this afternoon to discuss his country’s failed experiment in directing more than $40 billion in taxpayer funding toward the promotion of so-called “green jobs.”