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Issues in the News

1. ENERGY

The UN issues a new report on the future of biofuels.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith sizes up the report:<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = U1 />

“The United Nations has just published a report that sets out some of the challenges and implications of the widespread production of biofuels. And it’s a pretty good effort in asking the right questions and recognizing that there are tradeoffs involved in the push for biofuels.”

2. LEGAL

A restaurant owner in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Louisville, Kentucky faces a discrimination lawsuit after refusing to serve O.J. Simpson.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on federal law that affects an individual’s race and criminal history:

“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is currently attempting to force employers to hire people with criminal convictions, citing workplace ‘disparate impact’ rules.  Disparate impact rules ban employment criteria that have the effect of rejecting more minority applicants than white applicants.  The EEOC claims that such criteria include taking into account a job applicant’s criminal history.

3. CONSUMER

A Miami Herald columnist calls for gas prices over $4 a gallon.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy Policy Myron Ebell on what Congress is doing about gas prices:

““If the leadership in the House wants to have an effect on high gas prices, they’ll support  new domestic oil and gas exploration in areas under congressional moratorium,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Energy Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “In the global petroleum market, costs are determined by total supply. Congress can help expand that supply by lifting restrictions on development in the U.S.”

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