Politics
Romney verus Obama: Showdown at the Auto CAFE
Perhaps lost in the media focus on the Republican convention, the Obama Administration created CAFE standards two months ago. (CAFE stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy, a fancy name for gas mileage rules.) Romney immediately attacked the rules. It’s a very revealing – not to mention acrimonious — dispute. According to the Administration, the new …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Illegality of a Regulatory Cap
A key part of Romney’s attack on “over-regulation” is his proposed regulatory cap. If an agency wanted to issue a new regulation, a cap would require an agency to repeal a regulation (or package of regulations) with equal cost. To make this work, Romney would need new legislation from Congress, not just an executive order. …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat Happens After Election Day?
We’re only two weeks away from the election. What will happen in terms of the environment if Obama wins? What happens if Romney wins? The difference is dramatic. If Obama wins. . . The results of an Obama victory are fairly predictable. There are a number of new regulations that are now wending their way …
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CONTINUE READINGOne Reason the Election Matters for the Environment: The Supreme Court
Supreme Court appointments are among the most durable of Presidential actions. A fifty-year-old appointee could well be on the Supreme Court until 2040 or longer. As an AP story this morning points out, the election could dramatically change the balance on the Supreme Court: With four justices in their seventies, odds are good that whoever is …
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CONTINUE READINGDoes the Electoral College Cause Lousy Climate Change Politics?
Dan and I have lamented the failure of the current national “debate” (if it be called that) to raise the issue of climate change, the greatest environmental threat that humanity has ever faced. But why is that? One can assign the blame to many institutions, and I have, but one might have been overlooked: the …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and Tonight’s Debate
A key issue is missing from the list of topics for tonight’s debate. Climate change is a global problem with global impacts, ultimately requiring a global solution. Climate change is a threat multiplier from the point of view of national security, intensifying the risk of international conflict and terrorism. (See here for more.) It has …
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CONTINUE READINGReally, David Brooks?
I sat down at my computer this morning intending to blast away at an academic article I’m writing but only after peeking at the NY Times. I thought a little newspaper reading would be the end of my procrastination until I read David Brooks, something I don’t always do but couldn’t resist when I saw …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat Happens When You Feed Garbage Data to a Nobel Prize Winner? — The Bizarre Story of the Phantom Job Gains from Romney’s Deregulation Plan
Deregulation is one of Romney’s five steps in his plan to add jobs. But how do we supposedly know that deregulation will add jobs? It’s a fascinating story, featuring a Nobel laureate’s economic model. The model is very fancy, lots of complex math, but it’s justified on the basis of data from a discredited study. …
CONTINUE READINGThe Truth About EPA’s Regulation of Coal
EPA has been accused of killing the coal industry by insanely over-regulating coal-fired power plants and factories. The facts are different. The Congressional Research Service is a reliable, non-partisan source of information. Here is what CRS says about the impact of the EPA rules: The primary impacts of many of the rules will largely be …
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CONTINUE READINGIs It Bad Politics To Talk About the Environment?
In response to my post expressing disappointment about the treatment of environmental issues in last night’s debate, Dan posted this comment: I agree that the lack of discussion of the environment was disappointing. But we have to remember that the debaters were primarily aiming their remarks at a small segment of the U.S. public whose …
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