CEI Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. FINANCE

Private insurance companies refuse to issue coverage to hurricane-prone areas in Florida.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on how the state government is making the situation worse:

While Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature have approved many new insurance laws over the past year, they’ve done little to protect the infrastructure that represents the state’s most valuable asset. Instead, at immense potential cost to taxpayers, the Legislature has let quasi-public Citizens Property Insurance Corporation compete directly with private insurance companies to write homeowners’ policies, while placing dozens of new restrictions on the private market.

2. SCIENCE

British adventurer Lewis Pugh claims to be the first person to swim in the waters of the North Pole in order to highlight concerns about global warming.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on why current Arctic temperatures are hardly unprecedented:

…the Arctic warming of the 1930s was comparable to the warming of recent decades, and both Arctic air and sea surface temperatures were significantly warmer than the present during the early- and mid-Holocene. Arctic climate is naturally variable.

3. ENERGY

Higher corn prices, due to increasing demand for ethanol, push up the cost of ice cream.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on the drawbacks to growing corn for fuel:

With tax incentives, grants, and loans for biofuel development and mandates for greatly expanded biofuel use, farmers are rapidly shifting to corn production for ethanol to feed the expanded, government-driven demand for corn as an ethanol feedstock. However, this demand has already created unforeseen problems—which are likely to be exacerbated by new energy proposals to dramatically increase biofuel use mandates and production subsidies. Experts predict an increase in soil erosion, increased use of fertilizers leading to greater runoff, decrease in water quality, and more fuel used in the transportation of ethanol.

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

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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