CEI Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. ENVIRONMENT

Activists fight a gold mining project in the Romanian village of Rosia Montana.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Journalism Fellow Lene Johansen on how the controversy is affecting the locals:

“Like getting a lump of coal, the poor people of Rosia Montana had their dreams for improved quality of life and prosperity for their village crushed. They will have to continue to live with no electricity, go to the bathroom in drafty sheds in their yards, and scrounge a meager living out of foraging for food in the polluted forest that Gabriel Resources wanted to pay to clean up.”

2. SCIENCE

NASA scientist James Hansen claims that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already beyond the “safe” level.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on how climate change claims have become more extreme:

“The course of apocalyptic movements is generally similar. In order to keep the enthusiasm of its followers at a fever pitch and to attract new followers, it is necessary to keep stoking the fires with more and more outlandish claims. The hysteria peaks as doomsday is moved closer and closer to the present, and then — poof — it collapses. It appears to me that the global warming bubble has gone about as far as it can go before it descends into ranting and writhing on the ground or random outbreaks of mob violence.”

3. POLITICS

Congress outlaws the sale of traditional incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Former Journalism Fellow Tim Carney on who stands to profit from the ban:

“…the energy bill was loaded up with all sorts of favors for energy companies, manufacturers and other corporate bigwigs. The light bulb law follows the same pattern: A regulation touted as an environmental boon that will have dubious benefits to the planet, real costs to consumers and guaranteed profits for a handful of well-connected corporations.”

Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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