Blog
SAFE Rule Examined Part 2: Air Quality and Auto Safety
Today’s post examines the Final Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule’s estimated impacts on air quality and auto safety. Citations to the rule are…
Blog
SAFE Rule Examined Part 1 Climate Change and the Great Lockdown
It’s been almost a month since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Final Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient…
Blog
Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division Publishes Accomplishments Report
The Department of Justice’s Energy and Natural Resources Division published a report on Earth Day detailing its accomplishments to enforce the nation’s environmental, public lands, and…
Blog
EPA Proposes to Retain Current Standards for Particulate Matter
The EPA proposed to retain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter established in 2012. Environmental groups predictably condemned the proposal. However,…
News Release
Trump EPA Plans to Retain Current Air Quality Standards in Science-Driven Decision
The Environmental Protection Agency administrator today proposed a rule to retain current national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM10) particulate…
The Heartland Institute
President Trump Proposes Reducing and Refocusing Environment And Energy Spending
The Heartland Institute cites Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on ARPA-E: ARPA-E is unnecessary because the private sector already has the incentives and resources…
News Release
CEI Applauds Easing of CAFE Standards But Further Reductions Would Be a Lot Better for Consumers
The Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency today released the final Safer Affordable Fuel Efficiency (SAFE) rule, partially rolling back stringent and costly fuel…
Blog
GOP Climate Bill Does Carbon Capture and Storage Actually Reduce Emissions
The American Enterprise Institute this week published A Critique of the House Republican Climate Policy Proposals by AEI economist Benjamin Zycher. Zycher finds that the…
Blog
Ninth Circuit Should Uphold Panel’s Decision to Dismiss Kids’ Climate Suit
The Department of Justice urged the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stand by its decision to dismiss the so-called Kids Climate Suit on the…
Blog
Will Coronavirus Fuel or Derail Climate Agenda?
Fear and angst are contagious. With the coronavirus still spreading and the U.S. and global economies in danger of freefall, people may become more receptive…
Blog
Federal District Court Upholds Constitutionality of California-Quebec Climate Pact
On February 12, Federal District Judge William B. Shubb rejected the Trump administration’s constitutional challenge to California’s greenhouse gas emission trading pact with Québec. Judge…
Blog
Eleven Free Market Groups Submit Joint Comments on Proposed Updated NEPA Regulations
CEI and 10 other free market organizations submitted comments supporting the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Proposed Updated regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy…
Comment
CEI Comments on Proposed Updated NEPA Procedural Regulations
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposed update of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedural regulations.
Blog
New York Times’ Shoddy Reporting on Agency Skeptic
The New York Times recently ran an article titled “A Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Scientific Research.” The fact-checkers and editors dropped the ball on this…
Blog
Appeals Court Rules Heathrow Expansion Unlawful, Citing Paris Climate Treaty
The UK Court of Appeals on February 27th declared unlawful the Department of Transport’s approval of Heathrow Airport’s expansion plans, because the government “had…
Blog
Report Misconstrues SAFE Rule ‘Rollbacks’
A recent Rhodium Group report purports to show by the numbers that the fuel economy “rollbacks” effected by the Trump administration’s forthcoming Safer Affordable Fuel…
Blog
Study Finds Strong Acceleration in Ocean Circulation
As part of its “Climate in Crisis” series, NBC News on February 11 reported the results of a new study on “the undersea conveyor belts…
Blog
House Panel Hears Testimony on USE IT Act
On February 6, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on the Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies…
Blog
Fuel Economy Chaos – What Is it, Who Caused it, What’s the Cure
Automakers wanted easier rules and got more than they had the courage to ask for in the Trump administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Motor Vehicle…
Blog
Worst-Case Emissions Scenario RCP8.5 Is Dead: BBC
BBC News last week rang down the curtain on the climate science fraternity’s long running malpractice of projecting climate change impacts using a worst-case emissions…
Blog
Study Projecting Net Carbon Dioxide Benefits through 2050 Defended
Last Friday on the Daily Kos, an anonymous blogger called “Climate Denier Roundup” (CDR) posted a hit piece on a new study by Kevin D.
Blog
New Study Projects Net Carbon Dioxide Benefits through at least 2050
The benefits of carbon dioxide emissions are likely to exceed costs over the next 30 years, according to a new study published in the journal…
Blog
Warmest Decade – Climate Crisis Still a No Show
Is there good reason to believe climate change a “crisis” endangering the survival of civilization and the habitability of the Earth? No. If climate change…
Blog
EIA Projects Renewables Will be “Most Used” Energy Source in 2050—but …
“With the rapid growth of electricity generation, renewables—including solar, wind, and hydroelectric power—are the fastest-growing energy source between 2018 and 2050, surpassing petroleum and other…
Blog
Year in Review 2019: Climate Policy
The Trump administration this year continued to dismantle key components of President Obama’s climate policy “legacy.”…
Blog
Dutch Supreme Court Upholds Climate Lawsuit against Government
The Dutch Supreme Court on December 20th rejected an appeal by the Dutch government to overturn an appellate court’s October 2018 decision to uphold a lower…
Blog
Flex-Fuel Vehicles and Ethanol No Panacea for Energy Independence
Back in September, I posted a rebuttal to pollster Frank Luntz, who advised President Trump on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News program to promote E85—motor fuel…
Blog
Down in Flames: Judge Dismisses New York Climate Lawsuit against ExxonMobil
New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager today acquitted ExxonMobil of all charges brought against the company by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Blog
Wind and Solar Tax Credits: Special Interest Subsidies
The House Ways and Means Committee on November 19th released a draft of its “Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act” (summary). The sponsors propose to extend,…
Blog
Activist Groups Demand Pelosi, Castor Implement Green New Deal
Two hundred fifty nine activist groups are demanding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor…
Blog
EPA, Progressives Clash over Transparency Rule
The House Science Committee held a hearing last week titled “Strengthening Transparency or Silencing Science? The Future of Science in EPA Rulemaking.” Most of the witnesses and…
Blog
Will Trump ‘SAFE’ Rule for New Cars Harm Public Health?
Will the Trump administration’s auto rule harm public health? That’s what all five majority witnesses and several Democratic members of the House Oversight Environment Subcommittee…
Comment
Supplemental Testimony: “Trump’s Wrong Turn on Clean Cars”
Thank you, again, Chairman Rouda and Ranking Member Comer, for inviting me to testify at the Subcommittee’s October 29, 2019 hearing titled “Trump’s Wrong Turn…
Blog
Major Auto Companies Auto Dealers Back Trump Fuel Economy Rule
On October 29, Marlo Lewis testified before the House Oversight Environment Subcommittee on the Trump administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule. As he noted,…
Comment
Trump’s Wrong Turn on Clean Cars
Chairman Rouda, Ranking Member Comer, and Members of the House Government Oversight Subcommittee on Environment, thank you for inviting me to speak today at this…
Blog
Trump Administration Challenges Constitutionality of California Climate Pacts
Just when I thought the Trump administration could not get any bolder in challenging California’s self-anointed power to determine national climate policy, the Department of…
Blog
House Panel Holds Hearing to Bash Exxon
The House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties today held a hearing to examine “the oil industry’s efforts to suppress the truth about climate…
Blog
Repeal of Trump Power Plant Rule Fails in Senate
The U.S. Senate today defeated by 53-41 a Democrat-sponsored Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that aims to overturn the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule,…
Blog
United States, Carbon Tax Laggard?
The United States “lags” other nations’ use of carbon taxes, ClimateWire (subscription required) reports. Specifically, the United States ranks 40th out of 44 countries in…
Blog
Environmental Protection Agency to California: Clean up Your Act
In two separate actions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week put California on notice that the state is violating federal air and water…
Blog
Progressive States Petition Court to Declare Trump Pre-emption Rule Unlawful
A California-led coalition of 24 states and three cities today petitioned the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to declare unlawful the Trump administration’s One National Program…
Blog
Trump Administration Terminates California’s Unlawful Power over Auto Industry
Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the first step towards finalizing…
The Washington Post
Trump Administration to Revoke California’s Power to Set Stricter Auto Emissions Standards
The Washington Post cites Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on auto emission standards: Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive…
Blog
Trump Administration Pushes Back on California’s Fuel Economy Scheming
Since at least March 2018, the Trump administration and the state of California have been engaged in a legal and political struggle over the stringency…
Blog
CNN Hosts Seven-Hour ‘Climate Crisis Town Hall’ with Democratic Presidential Candidates
CNN on September 4th broadcast a seven-hour “Climate Crisis Town Hall” featuring ten Democratic presidential candidates. Each of the following candidates was in the spotlight…
Blog
Ethanol ‘Flex Fuel’ No Solution for Climate—or Political Compromise
Pollster Frank Luntz discussed climate policy Thursday night with Laura Ingraham on her Fox News program “The Ingraham Angle.” In the previous segment, Ingraham interviewed…
Fox News
Climate Questions for Politicians (That No One Seems to Want to Ask)
The Democrats running for their party’s presidential nomination are focusing more on climate change. Here are five questions reporters should ask to test whether the candidates’ climate…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Urge Reform of National Environmental Policy Act
CEI and five other free market groups submitted comments on the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Draft National Environmental Policy Act Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse…
News Release
White House Draft NEPA Guidance Unlikely to Reduce Delays and Litigation for Infrastructure Projects
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and several other free market groups submitted comments on the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Draft National Environmental…
Blog
Senator Bernie Sanders Releases $16 Trillion Green New Deal Plan
On August 22nd, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a 14,000-word plan to implement the Green New Deal—a detailed blueprint to “avert climate catastrophe and create…
Blog
Climate Study Urges Blacklisting of Contrarians
Authors of a study published recently in the journal Nature Communications want editors and journalists to blacklist “climate change contrarians.” Of course, the study doesn’t…
Blog
Climate Blame Game
In “Reformed Climate Deniers Don’t Deserve Redemption,” author Dave Leviton argues that Republican pollster Frank Luntz had no business testifying before the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee…
Blog
Advocacy Journalism Gears up to Promote UN Climate Conference
The Columbia Journalism Review reported on July 26th that more than 60 news organizations have signed up to devote “one week of focused coverage” to the international…
Blog
Judge Rejects Climate Suit to Establish ‘Right to Wilderness’
Oregon District Court Judge Michael McShane on July 31st rejected a petition by two nonprofit groups—Animal Legal Defense Fund and Seeding Sovereignty—and six individuals who allege the…
Blog
Climate Change Gets 21 Minutes in Five-Hour Presidential Debate
CNN hosted the 2nd Democratic presidential candidates’ debate this week on two consecutive nights (July 30th and 31st). Twenty of the 24 Democratic candidates participated, with 10…
Blog
Major Automakers Cave to California on Trump Auto Rule
The Washington Post reported on July 25th that Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and BMW North America have “struck a deal with California to produce fleets that are more…
Blog
Post Heat Wave Reflections
The recent heat wave was a hot one. Naturally, progressive commentary “linked” it to climate change. The linkage almost seems tautological. How could rising global…
Blog
Climate Risk Disclosure Proposal Would Destroy, Not Protect, Shareholder Value
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Wednesday introduced legislation (S. 2075) to require publicly-traded companies to disclose climate-related risks to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Blog
Affordable Clean Energy Rule Improves Obama-era Policy, Still Contains Fatal Flaw
The Federal Register yesterday published the Environmental Protection Agency’s final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, along with the agency’s response to public comments on the…
Washington Times
Sunday Talk Shows Falter In The Ratings
The Washington Times cites Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on public opinion regarding climate change. “Support for climate action drops precipitously when people consider…
Blog
Reuters Poll: Do Americans Want Aggressive Action on Climate?
Do Americans want “aggressive action” on climate change? That’s the subject of a new opinion poll conducted by Reuters. “Americans demand climate action (as long…
Blog
White House Releases Revised Guidance for Climate Policy
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently released the pre-publication draft of their proposed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Guidance on Consideration of…
Blog
Energy and Commerce Committee Holds Contentious Hearing on Trump Auto Rule
The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on June 20th on the Trump administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) motor vehicle rule. The rule proposes to freeze Corporate Average…
Blog
ACE Rule Massive Improvement over ‘Clean Power’ Plan
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday finalized its Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal power plants under Section 111(d)…
News Release
Final ACE Rule Reverses “Ill-Advised and Punitive” Obama-Era Regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued its final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which will replace the previous administration’s so-called “Clean Power Plan.”…
Blog
‘Citizen’s Guide to Climate Change’ Exposes Activist Falsehoods
Climate change is not a hoax, but as a political matter, it is a perpetual pretext for expanding government control over the economy, redistributing wealth,…
News Release
CEI Paper: Citizens Have More to Fear from Alarmists’ Agenda than Climate Change Itself
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new paper detailing important but seldom discussed facts about climate change. The paper argues that the planetary…
Study
A Citizen’s Guide to Climate Change
Climate change is not a hoax, but as a political matter, it is a persistent pretext for expanding government control over the economy, redistributing wealth,…
Blog
Automakers to Trump: Keep Us Captive to California Bureaucrats
Seventeen automakers, including Ford, General Motors, and Toyota Motor North America sent a letter on 6th June to President Donald J. Trump urging him not to challenge California’s…
Blog
Bjorn Lomborg and John Christy Shred Climate Alarmism
The latest talking point of progressive politicians, pundits, and activists is that America cannot afford not to spend trillions of dollars to “solve the climate…
News Release
CEI Releases New Video Explaining How a Carbon Tax would Punish American Families
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today launched a new video, “The Carbon Tax Schem,e Explained,” outlining various ways increased costs generated by a carbon tax…
Fox News
Models of Misinformation — Climate Reports Melt under Scrutiny
A last-ditch effort to refute climate “skeptics”—people unconvinced that we need to spend trillions to reshape our economies to halt or slow “climate change”-- has…
Study
A Policy Maker’s Guide to Climate Change
Thanks to the ingenuity of U.S. businesses, but also to the Republican rollback of the prior administration’s anti-energy policies, America is positioned to be a…
Blog
‘Forefront of Opportunity and Abundance’—Sec. Pompeo’s Remarks to Arctic Council
On May 7th in Finland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo participated in the eleventh Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council. The meeting “ended without…
Blog
Extinction Rebellion Heats Up UK Climate Ambition (or Rhetoric)
Spurred by David Attenborough’s global warming documentary, Extinction Rebellion protests, and homilies by teen activist Greta Thunberg, the United Kingdom became the first nation on Earth to…
Blog
On Climate, Lindsey Graham Says GOP Ready to ‘Cross Rubicon’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters yesterday at an Earth Day event in Dallas that congressional Republicans are “ready to cross the Rubicon” on climate…
Blog
EPA Mercury Rule an Inappropriate Exercise of Regulatory Power
On Wednesday, I submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to rescind its justification for the 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.
Comment
CEI Comments on the Mercury Rule
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reconsideration of its 2016 Supplemental Finding regarding the agency’s justification for its…
PJ Media
2020 Dems Vote ‘Present’ on Green New Deal
PJ Media cited Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the Green New Deal. “Senate Democrats resort to crazy talk when they call the vote…
Blog
Carbon Tax Not a Conservative Policy
Yesterday’s E&E News ran an article titled “Inside conservatives’ disarray on climate.” E&E reporter Mark Matthews was inspired to write the piece by an email…
Blog
House Has No Jurisdiction over Paris Agreement
If you have ever wondered whether Democratic leaders understand the U.S. Constitution when they bash President Trump for allegedly violating it, or just use “unconstitutional”…
Blog
World Not on Cusp of Energy Revolution: Study
In “The ‘New Energy Economy’: An Exercise in Magical Thinking,” Manhattan Institute scholar Mark P. Mills explains, in layman-friendly physics and economics, why mandates and subsidies…
Blog
Profiles in Courage: McConnell Video Mocks Green New Deal Advocates
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted against advancing Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) Green New Deal resolution to the Senate floor for debate…
News Release
Senate Democratic Co-Sponsors Abandon Green New Deal, Vote ‘Present’
Today, the United States Senate voted against advancing Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) Green New Deal resolution to the Senate floor…
Blog
Ignorance Is Strength, Dissent Is Stalinist
In an op-ed published yesterday in the UK Guardian, Michael Mann and Bob Ward warn Americans not to be “fooled by the Stalinist tactics being…
Blog
CEI Supports EPA’s Proposed Revision of Power Plant Rule
Yesterday I submitted comments on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute supporting EPA’s proposal to dramatically scale back the agency’s 2015 rule establishing “carbon pollution”…
Comment
CEI Comments on EPA’s Review of its Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Performance Standards for New Coal-fired Power Plants
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) review of its carbon dioxide (CO2) performance standards for new coal-fired power…
Blog
Defense Establishment Blasts Proposal for Trump Climate Review
In a letter released earlier this week, 58 “former national security leaders” urge President Trump not to approve the formation of a panel to review…
Blog
How Much Will the Green New Deal Cost Your Family?
The American Action Forum (AAF) yesterday posted a preliminary analysis of the scope, implications, and costs of the Green New Deal (GND). I can’t wait…
Blog
California’s Gov. Newsom Slams Brakes on California Bullet Train
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on February 12th unexpectedly slammed the brakes on the state’s high-speed rail project. The project “as currently planned, would cost too…
Blog
Carbon Capture and Storage Not ‘Best System’ to Reduce Emissions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday held an all-day “listening session” at its Washington, D.C. headquarters on its proposal to revise the Obama administration’s new…
Blog
Kids Climate Litigants Petition Court to Stop Fossil Fuel Development
Kelsey Juliana and her fellow litigants are the youngsters who, since 2015, have been suing the federal government to “prepare and implement an enforceable national remedial plan to…
Blog
House Climate Hearing off to Bad Start
The newly-minted environment and climate change subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing today titled “Time for Action: Addressing the Environmental…
Blog
EPA’s Andrew Wheeler Appoints John Christy to Science Advisory Board
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler on January 31st announced the appointment of some 29 experts to serve on the agency’s Science Advisory Board…
Blog
Forecast: U.S. to Become Net Energy Exporter in 2020
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the United States to become a net energy exporter in 2020. That is the “reference case” projection in…
Blog
Oregon Court Rebuffs Kids’ Climate Lawsuit
Oregon’s Court of Appeals ruled on 9th January that the public-trust doctrine does not impose a “fiduciary obligation” on the state to develop and implement…
Blog
Environmental Protection Agency Proposes Changes to Mercury Air Rule
On December 28th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to rescind the Obama EPA’s justification for its 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule. MATS…
CNS News
Trump’s EPA to Repeal Another Obama-Era Anti-Coal Regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency published its proposed revision of the Obama administration’s carbon dioxide emission standards for new coal power plants in late December. The Obama standards effectively…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Climate Policy
The Trump administration this year took additional steps to dismantle key components of President Obama’s climate policy “legacy.” Supporting and guiding those efforts is a…
Blog
Attacks on Trump Administration Environmental Federalism Fall Short
Today’s Energy & Environment News (subscription required) has an article titled “Wheeler preaches federalism on water, not cars.” The gist is that various critics claim…