Cooler Heads Digest

The House Democratic leadership has once again delayed bringing omnibus anti-energy legislation to the floor. It now looks like they will bring a slimmed-down package to the Rules Committee on Thursday and to the floor on Friday. The August recess is scheduled to begin Friday night, so either it’s going to be a quick debate or they will stay in session Saturday and perhaps even longer. Most of the big items have been taken out, and it’s not clear that amendments will be permitted on the floor to put any of them back in. What remains is still bad, especially the various provisions to restrict energy production on federal lands in the United States. The House passed a new farm bill last week that includes higher taxes on offshore oil and gas production. Since offshore production is generally more expensive than onshore production and becomes more expensive the deeper the water, this means that the House has effectively voted to make a lot of offshore production unprofitable unless the price of oil goes much higher for an extended period. That will scare away many investors from what are already risky projects. Lower investment in domestic energy production means more imports. But Speaker Pelosi and her gang promised policies to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Either they can’t think straight, or they haven’t been talking straight with the American people.

Across the States

American Legislative Exchange Council’s Dan Simmons

Coastal states like Florida and California are adopting climate change mitigation policies largely out of fear of rising sea levels. But do rises in sea level present a grave a threat to coastal states? A 2007 U.N. report estimated that sea levels will rise a little over a foot during the rest of the century. Is that a terrifying prospect in light of the fact sea levels have risen about a foot since 1850? In fact, mankind’s capacity for resilience and adaptation means that coastal states can thrive despite these moderate increases in sea level. To read more about resilience and adaptation in the face of a changing climate, read Bjorn Lomborg’s Congressional testimony.

Around the World

CEI’s Iain Murray

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has put climate change as an international priority on a level with nuclear proliferation and global poverty, but behind international terrorism. More analysis on what this means for the UK’s Chief Scientist from Cooler Heads Counsel Chris Horner here.

Issue of the week: House Energy Bill

The House of Representatives will begin deliberation on an energy omnibus bill at the end of this week. Virtually all the provisions they will consider are awful for American consumers and taxpayers. Follow the links below to past “Issue of the Week” sections for talking points on provisions likely to be included in the House’s energy package.

Ethanol (CHD, 30 May 2007)

Increased ethanol mandates will raise your taxes and make food and fuel more expensive.

CAFE (CHD, 6 June 2007)

Increased CAFÉ standards put American families at risk.

Renewable Portfolio Standard (CHD, 27 June 2007)

A federal RPS would cause more American manufacturing jobs to go overseas.

Call for Content

Have stories we may want to include in our weekly news roundup? Is your organization working on something other members of the Coalition might be interested in? Let us know by contacting Julie Walsh at [email protected]

Contact CEI

If you or your organization is working on energy or global warming policy, please use CEI as a resource. Contact Julie Walsh at [email protected]

About CEI

All Policy Areas

All Products

All Events

Support CEI