The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENERGY
Oil giant BP shuts down a quarter of its Alaskan production due to a pipeline leak.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: President Fred L. Smith, Jr. on the misplaced priorities at BP:
“While many have noted that the vast majority of BP’s business remained in the oil and gas area, one would scarcely know that from the company’s ad campaigns or speeches. But rhetoric is not irrelevant. If a company’s leaders decry the ‘old’ world of oil and gas, then the company’s brightest and most ambitious will heed that message. Why work on maintaining pipelines or refineries when these facilities are destined for the ash heap of history?”
2. ENVIRONMENT
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee holds a hearing on California’s request for the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the problems with California’s plan:
“[The California Air Resources Board’s] proposal fails its own cost-effectiveness test. Even if the theory of catastrophic global warming were true, the emissions reductions achieved would make no detectable difference in global temperature trends over the next 50 years. As environmental policy, the proposal is all cost for no benefit. Further, it will raise the sticker price of new cars more than it will lower operating expenses for most consumers.”
3. AGRICULTURE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service releases a report on sugar production.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on the details of the sugar subsidy program in the U.S.:“As is true with many government programs, the sugar program’s benefits are concentrated and the costs are diffuse. It principally benefits large sugar cane producers in Florida and Louisiana and sugar beet farmers in 14 upper-Midwestern and Western states. For those who benefit, the rewards are significant—the General Accounting Office estimated in 1991 that 42 percent of the sugar grower benefits went to only 1 percent of all sugar farms, or 150 farms. Some 33 sugar farms received over $1 million in annual benefits.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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