Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

The Financial Incentives Behind the Pickens Plan

T. Boone Pickens’ Decision to Build a Wind Farm Shows Why the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) Should NOT be Extended
Right now, wind industry lobbyists are pushing the U.S. Congress to extend the highly lucrative wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), an action that could shift another $3 billion[1] in tax burden from wind farm owners [...]

How to finance the financial bailout

Monday night, Neil Cavuto chastised Congress for not being able to multitask and simultaneously deal with both our financial needs and our energy needs. It’s too bad, because increased domestic energy production will help with our current financial problems.
On Monday, the financial markets responded to the financial bailout plans and as a result, the dollar [...]

IER National Survey Executive Summary

On behalf of the bi-partisan polling team of Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates (R) and Frederick Polls (D), we are pleased to present the findings from a national opinion survey on attitudes on energy issues.
With two-thirds of Americans thinking gas prices and energy independence are a ‘very serious problems,’ our national survey indicates broad public desire [...]

Congress will end the OCS moratorium—now what?

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Congress has decided to end the moratorium on energy exploration and production on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This is a victory for the American people, but the question is, what does ending the moratorium really mean and when should we expect to see production on the OCS?
The moratorium banned any energy [...]

Bailing Into Commodities: How the Wall Street Bailout Raises Energy Prices

Investors around the world are selling the U.S. dollar because of the massive Wall Street rescue plans, which thus far total a whopping $1.8 trillion.  Oil is traded on a world market, with potential buyers and sellers having access to many currencies.  A falling dollar translates into more expensive oil and higher prices at the [...]

Flaws in the New No-New Energy Plan

Yesterday the House embarked upon yet another in a long series of energy debates. Like its predecessors, this new energy bill, entitled the “Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act” (H.B. 6899) does almost nothing to improve our energy situation. Further, the measure seems to increase costly regulation on buildings and imposing additional burdens [...]

Beware of the New Russian Bear

Robert J. Shapiro, former Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs in the Clinton administration, argues in U.S. News and World Reports that we need to be mindful of geopolitics when considering energy policy because (1) the investor-controlled oil companies control a very small percentage of world oil reserves and (2) Russia will use oil [...]

The Speaker’s New ‘No Energy’ Plan

According to news reports, the Speaker of the House has unveiled a new energy proposal.  It’s described as a compromise that would lead to more offshore energy production.  Based on the bill summary, however, the plans appears to be more of a “bait and switch” that won’t do much of anything to bring new energy [...]

The Gang of Ten Letters

IER President Thomas Pyle penned the following letter to House and Senate leaders and the authors of the “Gang of Ten” energy plan.  Signed letters are attached, as is a draft copy of the Gang of Ten’s plan.
To the House of Representatives: To the Senate: Draft of the legislation:

September 9, 2008
The Honorable [...]

Washington Post Calls for Higher Gasoline Prices

Most people think that falling gasoline prices are a good thing, but not the Washington Post. The Post actually argues that higher gasoline prices are a good thing for America. This is not a joke. They write:
If oil prices keep going down, what will happen to all the progress the United States has just made [...]