Renewable Energy, Anti-Whaling Protesters, and Fed Chairman Bernanke
The state of Colorado expands requirements for the use of renewable power.
Japanese authorities plan to arrest anti-whaling protesters from the group Sea Shepherd.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke expands the powers of his position to regulate the economy.
More headlines: listen to the CEI Weekly Podcast.
1. ENERGY
The state of Colorado expands requirements for the use of renewable power.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy Policy Myron Ebell on the costs of such “renewable portfolio standards”:
“…the effect of adopting a renewable portfolio standard has been to raise electricity prices and push manufacturing into states or other countries with lower electricity prices. Therefore, the effect of a federal RPS would be to require states with low electricity prices and proportionately lower renewable energy potential, such as is found in our industrial heartland, to raise electricity prices to a level that would force their industries to migrate overseas to countries with cheaper energy rates and no renewable portfolio standards.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Japanese authorities plan to arrest anti-whaling protesters from the group Sea Shepherd.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Journalism Fellow Lene Johansen on her family’s personal experience with the group:
“When commercial whaling started up again [in Norway] in the 1990s, there was only one boat left among the bustling whaling fleet on the eastern and southern coast of Norway. Before the ban, whaling had been a way of life, and a key part of the economy along those coasts, even though the sailors had to travel for months to get to the hunting grounds. The lone boat left was Senet, which I used to dive from during hot summer afternoons. Senet is my granduncle’s boat. That’s where my worried sister comes in — one morning she came up to our house very startled and said that someone had bombed the harbor. This was not exactly true, someone had bombed [the boat] Senet. The Guardian [newspaper has] listed the bomber as one of their 50 most influential environmentalists. His name is Paul Watson, the founder of eco-terrorist group Sea Shepherd.”
3. FINANCE
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke expands the powers of his position to regulate the economy.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the mistakes the Federal Reserve has been making:
“The Federal Reserve has been keeping interest rates low and inflating the currency, to bail out irresponsible people who’ve borrowed more than they can afford, and encourage consumers to spend like there’s no tomorrow. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost, and the Fed’s policy is finally attracting some criticism. Stanford Professor Ronald McKinnon [has] criticized the Fed’s inflationary interest-rate cuts, noting that it has cut investment in the U.S., causing a ‘credit crunch’ and ‘flight from the dollar’ as ‘capital flies out of the country.’ International confidence in our economy has fallen greatly as a result.”
Listen to the CEI Weekly Podcast here.