CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENVIRONMENT
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee holds a hearing on energy rationing legislation sponsored by Senators Lieberman (I-CT) and Warner (R-VA).
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the bill’s unworkable goals:
“Given the current mix of fuels and foreseeable advances in technology, there is no way to reduce emissions to the level required by Lieberman-Warner without a strict policy of rationing and energy taxes.”
2. LEGAL
Nigeria attempts to sue U.S. tobacco companies for $44 billion for health costs related to treating smoking-related illnesses.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on Nigeria’s shady history of public health policy:
“Nigeria’s Kano State is almost single-handedly responsible for reviving the terrible childhood disease of polio, which an international campaign had virtually wiped out throughout the world by 2002. Given Nigeria’s terrible public health record, it is hard to take seriously the public-health concerns that Nigerian officials are invoking to go after the tobacco companies.”
3. SAFETY
The National Transportation Safety Board meets to discuss its “Most Wanted List” of safety improvements for federal rule makers.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on the federal transportation policy that contributes to approximately 2,000 deaths a year:
“[The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program] has many things wrong with it. It raises new car prices, forcing some consumers, especially those with low incomes, to hold on longer to their old cars. It restricts consumer choice, since manufacturers are forced to pay more attention to what the law requires rather than to what consumers want. It is highly questionable at a time of rising gas prices. And worst of all is CAFE’s lethal impact on auto safety. When these are taken into account, the case for making this program even more stringent falls apart entirely.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
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