Controversy is heating up over an Obama administration plan to drastically reduce the amount of federal lands available for oil shale development in the American West. The Bush administration had set aside 1.3 million acres for oil shale and tar sands development in...
The next time an environmentalist warns us of a pending disaster or that we are running out of something, we ought to ask: When was the last time a prediction of yours was right?
On Sunday, February 17, the Sierra Club will lead what is being billed as the world’s largest ever “climate rally.” “This is a blackout rally,” said Alex Epstein, President of the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP). “The Sierra Club doesn’t just want to outlaw the...
It has long been noted that government intervention seldom, if ever, accomplishes the stated purpose. When the failure of some regulation, subsidy, or program becomes clear, legislators respond with further interventions. As an example, consider the solar panel...
The headline on CNN.com said it all: “Big Oil’s promise: Let us drill, we’ll hire 1.4 million workers.” The article goes on to say: With job creation taking center stage in American politics, the oil industry Wednesday made a pitch for drilling more widely. With...
I wrote this in May 2010. It remains relevant. On April 22, 2010 an EPA regulation governing renovation, repair, and painting (RRP) took effect. The regulation governs any activity that will disturb paint containing lead and applies to all homes built before 1978 and...
Energy companies, particularly those producing fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, coal—are under attack by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media. It is one thing to criticize companies such as BP, deservedly, for lax safety procedures or lacking...
Innovations do not always occur at the speed or in the direction that government officials would like.
Last week, I was writing about the first UN World Happiness Report and how it pits wealth creation and wealth against happiness. I promised to discuss why wealth creation is not only good for people’s happiness but also for the planet. Wealth creation without the...
A few weeks ago I caught a portion of a radio program in which a commentator argued that economic progress has limits. He used a hamster as an example: For the first few weeks of his life, a hamster doubles in size each week. If he did this for a year, he would...
This month, as unleaded gasoline prices increased for 17 consecutive days (to a national average of $3.647 per gallon - up 11% thus far this year) and West Texas Intermediate crude joined Brent crude in breaking through a $100 per barrel level, energy prices emerged...
People who disagree with my political perspective sometimes tell me, “You shouldn’t comment on social or political matters. That’s not appropriate for a mental health professional.” The people who say this are always liberals, and never...
The benefits of modern vaccines, not forgetting the tremendously salutary impact on health and longevity wrought about by better living conditions, hygiene, and sanitation, in general, and the introduction and subsequent widespread use of antibiotics, in particular.
Dr. Edward Jenner (1749-1823), the English country physician, deserves the largest share of the credit for widespread vaccination and eventual eradication of smallpox. He is one among those great medical giants who, almost single handedly, laid down a great foundation block in the construction of the ever-growing edifice of medical knowledge.
The U.N. has proposed that $2 trillion per year be provided to them to ensure the development of "green technologies" over the next 40 years. Failure to let the U.N. do this, according to them, will result in the end of the world as we know it. "Green" technologies...
Have you forgotten about Obama's attempt to control the Internet -- in Orwellian doublespeak known as "Net Neutrality"? Well, the Republican House of Representatives (to their credit) has not forgotten. Two days before Christmas, the FCC issued “net...
If we want to restore economic growth and reduce our vulnerability to the elements, what we need is not “green energy” forced upon us by government coercion but real energy delivered on a free market.
Earth Hour symbolizes the renunciation of industrial civilization.
In case you haven't heard, Obama's FCC has passed new rules requiring private companies who provide Internet services to submit to control under the government. What will government's rules be? Those are yet to be determined. But the government alone will decide what...
It's remarkable how you can do more and more things online. Paying bills, for example, can be "paperless." With the stroke of a few computer keys, you can pay all your bills without the use of mail, paper or pens. The self-consciously "green" love to brag about how...
The notion that production and economic activity are harmful to the environment rests on the abandonment of man and his life as the source of value in the world.
For this article, let me be brief about the following facts, which are oil and water under the bridge. BP’s off-shore oil leases, like all off-shore oil leases, are leases to use federal property. (Hat tip to this article in The Freeman.) The land and water are...
Houston–where I live–has been under a severe drought. This year, we have received about one-third of our normal rainfall. In response, the city has enacted water rationing and citizens will be fined if they violate the restrictions. At the same time, the city reports...
he order by a federal district court in Louisiana overturning President Obama’s six-month general moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates many of the mistakes the administration has made in handling this environmental disaster. ...
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