Natural Gas
Blog
Are ESG Funds a Proxy for the Green New Deal?
After being soundly defeated in the Senate 0-57 (43 Democrats voted “present”), the Green New Deal continues to languish in the House. Roll Call reported the following excuse from Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I can’t say we’re going to take that and pass it because we have to go through our ...
Blackouts
The problem with government-protected utility monopolies
Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?
DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
Climate Change
Green New Deal would cause a new Depression
Democrat firebrands Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey just unveiled their “Green New Deal,” a multi-trillion-dollar effort to overhaul the energy industry and slash America’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero within a decade. The legislation’s title is fitting. The original New Deal failed to create jobs and actually ...
Blog
Only in California: Falling Oil Production, Gas Plant Closures Are Reasons to Party
We recently documented California’s sharp fall in oil production, noting that even though only two states have more proved reserves of crude, five are producing more oil. This is not due to an accident or bad luck. Or even poor management. It is by design. The state’s dominant political party ...
California
California Can Either Make Use of Its Sea of Oil, Or Drown In It
Earlier this month, The New York Times gave space to a climate activist who argued that policymakers must “Free California of Fossil Fuels.” Six days later, the Times’ California Today feature covered the state’s “Move to Mandate 100% Carbon-Free Electricity” through Senate Bill 100. A significant portion of Californians would agree ...
Commentary
Infant Health Deserves Careful Research
Want to win a political argument? Accuse your opponent of hurting children. That’s the lesson behind two recent studies regarding the well-being of America’s babies. A new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund finds that America’s infant mortality rate is only slightly better than Sri Lanka’s. The left seized ...
Blog
Government Policy, Not Hurricanes, Main Contributor to High California Gas Prices
Download Capital Ideas, October 2017 Gasoline prices spiked more sharply in some states after deadly storms in Texas and Florida than at any time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But in California, steep fuel prices are an everyday event. The average gallon of gasoline cost $3.02 in California in August, ...
California
End of Legislative Session Brings Brief Respite from Higher Energy Prices
Legislation that would have required all electric power sold in the state to be generated by renewable sources by 2045 was held up in the final days of the recently-completed legislative session. But it will come back. Should the idea ever become law, we’ll remember these as the easy days ...
California
Unless Legislature Embraces Free Market Energy Future, California Faces Next Solyndra
California’s solar power system generated such a glut of electricity for two weeks in March that some of it had to be sent out of state. Supporters of solar energy might believe this is evidence that it works. But it actually highlights solar energy’s biggest flaw. In late June, the ...
Are ESG Funds a Proxy for the Green New Deal?
After being soundly defeated in the Senate 0-57 (43 Democrats voted “present”), the Green New Deal continues to languish in the House. Roll Call reported the following excuse from Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I can’t say we’re going to take that and pass it because we have to go through our ...
The problem with government-protected utility monopolies
Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?
DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
Green New Deal would cause a new Depression
Democrat firebrands Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey just unveiled their “Green New Deal,” a multi-trillion-dollar effort to overhaul the energy industry and slash America’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero within a decade. The legislation’s title is fitting. The original New Deal failed to create jobs and actually ...
Only in California: Falling Oil Production, Gas Plant Closures Are Reasons to Party
We recently documented California’s sharp fall in oil production, noting that even though only two states have more proved reserves of crude, five are producing more oil. This is not due to an accident or bad luck. Or even poor management. It is by design. The state’s dominant political party ...
California Can Either Make Use of Its Sea of Oil, Or Drown In It
Earlier this month, The New York Times gave space to a climate activist who argued that policymakers must “Free California of Fossil Fuels.” Six days later, the Times’ California Today feature covered the state’s “Move to Mandate 100% Carbon-Free Electricity” through Senate Bill 100. A significant portion of Californians would agree ...
Infant Health Deserves Careful Research
Want to win a political argument? Accuse your opponent of hurting children. That’s the lesson behind two recent studies regarding the well-being of America’s babies. A new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund finds that America’s infant mortality rate is only slightly better than Sri Lanka’s. The left seized ...
Government Policy, Not Hurricanes, Main Contributor to High California Gas Prices
Download Capital Ideas, October 2017 Gasoline prices spiked more sharply in some states after deadly storms in Texas and Florida than at any time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But in California, steep fuel prices are an everyday event. The average gallon of gasoline cost $3.02 in California in August, ...
End of Legislative Session Brings Brief Respite from Higher Energy Prices
Legislation that would have required all electric power sold in the state to be generated by renewable sources by 2045 was held up in the final days of the recently-completed legislative session. But it will come back. Should the idea ever become law, we’ll remember these as the easy days ...
Unless Legislature Embraces Free Market Energy Future, California Faces Next Solyndra
California’s solar power system generated such a glut of electricity for two weeks in March that some of it had to be sent out of state. Supporters of solar energy might believe this is evidence that it works. But it actually highlights solar energy’s biggest flaw. In late June, the ...
