The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENVIRONMENT
A new study finds a cooling trend in the world’s oceans, confounding conventional models of global warming.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on the impact of the ocean cooling study:
“If you’ve seen An Inconvenient Truth, you’ll know that one of the proofs Al Gore advances for serious human impact on the planet’s temperature is the increase in ocean temperatures, which only models that include human impact from CO2 increases can explain. Unfortunately for this theory, the latest studies of the ocean temperatures show a dramatic cooling of ocean temperatures over the past few years.”
2. ENERGY
High energy prices fuel consumer inflation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy Policy Myron Ebell on the action in Congress needed to increase access to domestic energy sources:
“While Americans struggle to pay higher gas prices, the Senate left for its August recess after refusing to take votes on two outstanding bills passed by the House of Representatives that would significantly increase domestic oil and natural gas production. Instead, the Senate pretended to do something by voting to open a tiny area of the Gulf of Mexico to exploration—an area currently under a moratorium that expires next year. .”
3. HEALTH
Chicago prepares to launch an aggressive campaign to combat the spread of the West Nile virus.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on the fight between public health officials and environmental activists over West Nile prevention:
“Mosquito control officials only want to spray for one reason: to save lives. Over the past four years, there were more than 16,000 cases of the West Nile virus and more than 650 deaths. For some of those who survive, the illness can escalate into an excruciatingly painful neuroinvasive disease — one that can cause paralysis. In just the past two years, the Centers for Disease Control documented more than 4,000 cases of West Nile’s neuroinvasive disease. And even the more modest forms of West Nile virus sickness can be quite horrific.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
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