CEI Today: Obama’s new energy regulator, taxpayers hit with crop insurance costs, and CEI weighs in on disparate impact case

OBAMA ENERGY NOMINEE – MYRON EBELL

Platts Energy Week: Discussion of Ron Binz to head FERC

President Obama’s controversial nominee to chair the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Ron Binz, has called natural gas a “dead end” and called for a “new regulatory model” for global warming. CEI’s Myron Ebell explains why the Binz nomineation is significant in an era when the agency, which regulates the electric transmission grid and is in charge of permitting natural gas pipelines, has become more politicized and energy policy has morphed into environmental policy.

CROP INSURANCE – FRAN SMITH

Openmarket.org: Taxpayers Pay High Costs for Crop Insurance Subsidies

It’s estimated that U.S. taxpayers fund about 60 percent of the premiums farmers pay. And there are no caps on those crop insurance subsidies, which encourages farmers to plant on unproductive land, take higher risks, and claim losses. The names of the crop insurance recipients are also not public.

FEDERAL LENDING REQUIREMENTS – HANS BADER

Openmarket.org: CEI Opposes Risky, Race-Conscious Federal Lending Requirements in Supreme Court Case

The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently joined in an amicus brief filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation in a pending Supreme Court case, Township of Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc. The question presented is whether federal agencies can inject race-conscious “disparate-impact” considerations into laws that were intended to be colorblind bans on racial discrimination, such as the Fair Housing Act.

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