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No more taxpayer dollars for environmental treaties until UN ends China’s developing country status
Most environmental treaties are a bad deal for the American people, and some are made worse by the fact that the United Nations (UN) classifies…
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Regulatory relief, not subsidies, can make housing more affordable
Housing affordability has become a major issue – and for good reason given skyrocketing home prices and high mortgage rates coming at a time when…
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Junk science behind federal appliance regs about to get junkier
The Biden-Harris administration has embarked on a wave of anti-consumer home appliance regulations over the last several years. Each was justified in part by overblown…
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Energy freedom on the ballot in Washington State
Climate change policies tend to become unpopular as soon as the public realizes the effects such policies will have on them. That certainly is the…
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Three cheers for House efforts to defund climate-related foreign aid
House Republicans should be applauded for introducing an FY 2025 State Department appropriations bill that blocks climate change-related foreign aid. Specifically, the bill wouldn’t…
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21 cents worth of stupid in the Department of Energy’s latest stove proposal
The good news is that the Biden Department of Energy’s (DOE) latest proposed efficiency regulation for residential stoves is considerably less damaging to consumers…
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Fewer Memorial Day gimmicks, more oil production will bring down gasoline prices
The Biden administration treats high gasoline prices as a public relations problem rather than a real hardship for millions of Americans, hence the gimmicky announcement…
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Time to end China’s “developing nation” dodge on climate treaties
China’s newly-appointed Special Envoy for Climate Change, Liu Zhenmin, will soon meet for the first time with his American counterpart, John Podesta. One of…
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House bill fights appliance regulatory overreach
The American people face a wave of new federal appliance regulations, and all of them are bad. But this week, the House of Representatives will…
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Department of Energy is coming after our light bulbs – again
We have already said goodbye to the incandescent light bulb, thanks to federal regulations. Will its replacement be next? Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency regulations…
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RJ Smith (1937-2024)
Freedom has lost a true champion with the passing of longtime CEI analyst RJ Smith. RJ’s tireless advocacy for private property rights will be especially…
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The Biden administration once again puts its climate agenda above home affordability
The Biden administration talks a good game about making housing more affordable, but in truth it is actively boosting costs through expensive climate change…
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Two cheers for the gas stove protections in FY 2024 spending bill
There is a provision in the recently-passed appropriations bill prohibiting any federal funds from being used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to…
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Congress takes on anti-consumer furnace regulation
CEI suggested five bad appliance regulations Congress should reject with the Congressional Review Act last November. Now, Congress has taken up the first target…
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Federal courts to the rescue on bad appliance regulations?
The US Supreme Court recently heard a case that could impact how much deference judges give to regulatory agencies. To be certain, any relief…
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Defense bill amendment could help undo China’s unfair advantage in environmental treaties
Congress is currently considering the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (NDAA), including a long list of amendments added to the bill.
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Wall Street Journal reports consumer frustrations with over-regulated appliances
2023 is turning into the year of bad appliance regulations. Since January, CEI has submitted comments critical of proposed Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency…
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Biden admin appliance regulations are bad for small businesses and homeowners
Department of Energy (DOE) bureaucrats are making 2023 a bad year for homeowners with an avalanche of proposed and final appliance regulations impacting stoves, washing…
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5 bad appliance regulations Congress should reject with the Congressional Review Act
This is the third article in CEI’s Special Briefing Series: Defending the Personal Energy Choices of Americans. It isn’t just gas stoves. The Biden administration has…
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Air travel will continue to increase—unless grounded by climate change policies
The Duke of Wellington was said to have opposed the growth of railroads in 19th-century Britain because they would “only encourage the common people to…
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UN Montreal Protocol meeting begins in Nairobi
The United Nations’ 35th meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) begins this week in…
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New EPA air conditioner regulation certain to get homeowners heated up
Another Friday news dump, another bad Biden administration appliance regulation slipped in ahead of the weekend. Last Friday it was one targeting air conditioners –…
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House Republicans try defunding the home appliance regulators
This year began with a powerful consumer backlash to the suggestion from a Biden administration official that gas stoves may be banned, followed by…
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Biden administration finalizes costly and unnecessary furnace regulations
There’s a lot of consumer anger over pending federal regulations targeting stoves, but Biden administration bureaucrats are also going after dishwashers, refrigerators,…
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Now the Biden administration is targeting your next water heater
As discussed in recent CEI testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Biden administration Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed an avalanche…
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The Regulatory Assault on Gas Stoves – And Consumer Freedom
This is the debut article in CEI’s Special Briefing Series: Defending the Personal Energy Choices of Americans. Gas stoves provide tens of…
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How the Inflation Reduction Act takes aim at gas stoves
The American people have reacted very negatively to potential federal regulations targeting natural gas stoves in favor of electric versions. But beyond regulations, there…
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CEI leads coalition opposing crazy regulatory crackdown on dishwashers
The American public remains angry over federal meddling in gas stoves – for good reason, given that not one but two Biden administration regulatory agencies…
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Costlier cars help the poor, according to EPA
There is plenty of controversy surrounding EPA’s proposed new tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions rules for model year 2027-2032 vehicles, ranging from whether the…
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War over gas stoves heats up with two House votes today
President Biden’s administration has declared war on gas stoves, but today the House of Representatives is fighting back Two Biden administration agencies, the Consumer Product…
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5 myths about Joe Biden’s crackdown on gas stoves
The Biden administration’s craziest idea yet? The assault on gas stoves. Second craziest? The lame attempts to deny it. Now that two bills…
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Why is the debt ceiling deal helping to ban gas stoves?
When Biden-appointed Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr. announced last January that his agency was investigating gas stoves and that a…
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Biden administration wants to make bad clothes washers even worse
The Biden administration started the year by targeting gas stoves and has followed it up with a flood of additional appliance regulations. This…
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Screw up the dishwashers, save the planet?
The Department of Energy (DOE) proposed more stringent energy and water efficiency standards for dishwashers Friday, despite the fact that the regulations currently on…
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Competitive Enterprise Institute Leads Coalition Comment Opposing Department of Energy Stove Regulation
On April 17, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and 30 free-market organizations filed a comment with the Department of Energy (DOE) critical of its proposed…
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Can HR 1 Rekindle The Blue Flame Of Freedom?
It’s not easy to choose the Biden Administration’s single most foolish climate change policy amongst many deserving candidates, but worst of all may be the assault on the residential use of natural gas. The costs of this agenda are substantial, and it’s all…
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The War On Natural Gas – Pipeline Edition
The Biden Administration’s climate change-inspired war on natural gas continues on multiple fronts. Most recently in the news are the regulatory attempts to curtail the use…
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It’s Not Just Stoves – Biden Administration Regulators Going After Many Other Appliances
Do you think that Joe Biden’s regulators are sticking to promises not to target gas stoves? Think again, and it is not just stoves but…
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Administration’s Recent Crackdown on Domestic Mining at Odds with Its Electric Vehicle Agenda
President Biden could hardly be more aggressive in trying to foist electric vehicles (EVs) on the American public, regardless of whether they really meet our…
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Federal Attacks on Gas Stoves Continue
Think Biden administration regulators at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have really backed away from their threat to target natural gas stoves? No, they…
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It Isn’t Just Gas Stoves That Biden Regulators Dislike – EPA Adding Costly Red Tape To Air Conditioners
In response to a strong consumer backlash, Biden administration regulators now insist they are not considering a ban on natural gas stoves, at least…
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CNN Cheers Proposed New Restrictions on Light Bulbs
CNN has some great news for American consumers—your choices in light bulbs are being reduced! The Department of Energy (DOE) will soon propose a new…
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Will the Second Chapter of the Renewable Fuel Standard Be Worse than the First?
Enacted in 2005 and expanded in 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires that specified amounts of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel be added to…
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Could China’s Status as a Developing Nation in Climate Treaties Finally Be Coming to an End?
At the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) currently underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, representatives…
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Who’s Not Buying Electric Vehicles? Single Vehicle Households, for One
Proponents of electric vehicles (EVs) have little to say about the one-third of American households that own only a single car or truck. That isn’t…
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A Dose of Reality Over “Zero-Emissions” Electric Vehicles
Far too many journalists sound like cheerleaders when the topic is electric vehicles (EVs). That’s why RealClear Investigations’ Zero Emissions From Electric Vehicles? Here’s…
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A Tough Winter Ahead for Heating Bills, According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration
High gasoline prices will soon have an equally unpleasant partner in the form of high energy bills this winter, according to the U.S. Energy Information…
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CEI Leads Coalition Comment Critical of DOE’s Proposed Furnace Regulation
Several recent Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for appliances have been a bad deal for consumers, but the latest proposed standard for residential natural…
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Senate Bill Challenges China’s Status as a Developing Nation in New Treaty
Most United Nations environmental treaties are a bad deal for the United States, and some are made even worse because they give China a competitive…
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Senate Ratifies Anti-Consumer Kigali Amendment–but with A Silver Lining Regarding China
Last Wednesday, the Senate ratified the Kigali Amendment, a United Nations treaty restricting supplies of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a widely used class of refrigerants now targeted…
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Could Heating Costs Set Records This Winter?
Gasoline prices reached their peak at over $5 per gallon last June before declining to the current $3.70, but the worst may be yet…
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CEI Leads Coalition Letter Against EPA Interference with Alaska’s Pebble Mine
Mining is one of the relatively few environmentally related issues where federal agencies other than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been given the lead—or…
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CEI Submits Comment Opposing EPA Proposed Rule Allowing States to Use Clean Water Act as a Climate Policy Tool
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed regulatory changes to Section 401 of the…
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Think Handouts to Rich Electric Vehicle Buyers Are Unfair? Check Out the Inflation Reduction Act’s Homeowner Tax Breaks
The Manchin-Schumer Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extends the current tax credits up to $7,500 for electric vehicles (EVs). Among the many flaws with…
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Important NEPA Reform Vote in Senate this Week, with Implications for the Schumer-Manchin Package
The Senate may vote as soon as this week to reinstate Trump administration reforms to the federal permit process under the National Environmental Policy Act…
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Lack of Air Conditioning, Not Climate Change, Is the Real Summer Heat Wave Threat
Climate change policies often pose a greater risk than climate change itself, and that is especially true during summer heat waves. Each new heat wave…
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Some Good News on the Mountain Valley Pipeline
There are a lot of bad federal policies currently blocking American energy. Perhaps worst of all are measures bottling up Appalachia’s abundant natural gas that…
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The New Joe Biden – Friend of American Industry?
In recent months, President Biden has undertaken several measures he claims will encourage domestic drilling, mining, and manufacturing. It’s a big change from 2021 when…
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America’s Heat Pump Emergency
The Biden administration announced it will use the Defense Production Act (DPA)—a Korean War-era statute allowing presidents to demand American industry increase production of anything…
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More Staycations This Summer, Thanks to Biden’s Gas Price-Raising Agenda
Memorial Day Weekend kicks off the summer driving season, and vacationers will be paying record-high gasoline prices—and quite a few families may even have to…
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A Bad Day for Incandescent Light Bulbs – and Freedom of Choice
Consumers are better off with choices, and worse off when federal regulators step in and take them away. That’s the best way to view today’s…
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E-15 May Do More Food Price Harm than Gas Price Good
The Biden administration Environmental Protection Agency has announced an emergency waiver allowing gasoline blends containing up to 15 percent ethanol in a bid to…
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Algae and High Gasoline Prices
If you have managed to avoid record-high gasoline prices by using algae fuel instead, you have former President Barack Obama to thank. If not, you…
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Kigali Amendment Would Raise Air Conditioning Costs and Undercut American Competitiveness
Air conditioning season will soon be here, and it may prove to be the most expensive one in years thanks to a new federal program…
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Invoking Defense Production Act Won’t Unleash Domestic Mining
President Biden is reportedly going to invoke the Defense Production Act for the minerals needed to make electric vehicle (EV) batteries. But it’s all…
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The Russian Invasion of Ukraine And Energy Prices: Myth vs. Fact
Candidate Joe Biden repeatedly promised to aggressively target new domestic oil and natural gas projects in the U.S. as part of his climate change…
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No Matter How You Heat Your Home, This Winter Is Costing A Lot More
We are wrapping up the winter of 2021-2022, the first full one under the Biden administration and its energy policies. It has been a rough…
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Why the Mountain Valley Pipeline Matters
In what came as a surprise to few, if any, observers, the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline has hit another judicial setback that will delay…
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Either Support Domestic Mining or Oppose the Climate Agenda; You Can’t Do Both
The Biden administration supports more electric vehicles and wind turbines and solar panels in order to address climate change. It should also support more domestic…
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U.S. Geological Survey Study Underscores Extent of Import Dependence for Critical Minerals
The U.S. Geological Survey’s recent report, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2022, documents the significant extent to which America relies on imports of numerous critical minerals,…
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CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Department of Energy Defending Freedom of Choice for Light Bulbs
As I described in my recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, A Regulatory Burden For Every Room In Your House, the Biden administration has embarked…
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Sustainable Aviation Fuel Provisions In Build Back Better – A Slippery Slope?
There are many carrots for low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels in the Build Back Better legislation passed by the House and now being considered…
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America Can Keep Its Cool If Senate Rejects Kigali Amendment
The Biden administration apparently wants to add air conditioning to the long list of items becoming more expensive. This latest threat to consumers comes from…
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For Energy Infrastructure Projects, Even Supreme Court Victories Mean Nothing
In the last two years, two different natural gas pipeline projects were the subject of Supreme Court cases, and both times the project developers achieved…
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Is It Finally Goodbye for Incandescent Light Bulbs—and Consumer Choice?
President George W. Bush initiated the federal government’s targeting of incandescent light bulbs in energy legislation he signed in 2007. Subsequent Department of Energy…
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Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Cannot Undo Biden Administration’s Anti-Drilling Agenda
The Biden administration seems to know the playbook for pretending to respond to high gasoline prices. First, blame big oil for price gouging and launch…
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Another Gasoline Price Increase, Another Useless Federal Trade Commission Investigation
President Biden has officially requested the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate high gasoline prices. Unfortunately, this diversionary tactic has a long history and…
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The Most Wasteful Infrastructure Bill Ever?
The $1.2 trillion dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be signed into law by President Biden on Monday. If it is like past…
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Electric Vehicle Windfall Still in Big Spending Bill
Congress’ big spending bill, now called the Build Back Better Act, is evolving from truly terrible to somewhat less terrible. On energy, the highly…
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CEI and AP Polls Agree: Americans Don’t Want to Spend Much on Climate Change
Both the recent Competitive Enterprise Institute and Associated Press polls on climate change find that a clear majority of Americans have at least…
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Are Sky High California Gas Prices in Store for the Rest of the U.S.?
Want to know how high gasoline prices can go thanks to administration policies? Just look at where they’re already at in California. At $4.55…
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Cost of Air Conditioning to Heat up, Thanks to New EPA Climate Regulation
We can soon add air conditioning to the long list of products contributing to inflation, thanks to a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule,…
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Exorbitant Tax Incentives for Electric Vehicles to Be Voted on in House Ways and Means Committee
If electric vehicles (EVs) are to be judged by the amount of tax incentives needed to induce Americans to choose them, the latest provisions…
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Washington’s War against the Incandescent Light Bulb Is Back
The Trump administration called a truce in the regulatory war against the incandescent light bulb by declining to target them with additional efficiency standards, but…
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War on Natural Gas—End User Edition
No matter that it is clean-burning, domestically plentiful, and affordable, natural gas is demonized by the Biden administration as a fossil fuel and for that…
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Free Market Organizations Oppose Costly EPA Air Conditioner Regulations
With temperatures in Washington D.C. topping 90 degrees in recent days and with most of the summer yet to go, it is hard to imagine…
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China Ratifies Kigali Amendment, At America’s Expense
On June 17, China ratified the Kigali Amendment, the United Nations treaty provision that restricts future production of a widely used class of refrigerants…
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Biden Administration to Impose Wave of Costly Regulations on Home Appliances
The spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) has been released. It’s the roadmap of federal regulatory priorities, and being…
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Lessons from the Demise of ANWR and Keystone XL
Two iconic North American oil projects, federal leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Keystone XL pipeline carrying Canadian crude to U.S.
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Does Joe Biden Want to Do to Car Prices What California Has Done to Gas Prices?
Most Americans taking to the roads this Memorial Day weekend will be paying around $3 per gallon of gasoline, but in California the number…
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The Colonial Pipeline Shutdown May Shift Infrastructure Debate in a More Useful Direction
If there is a silver lining to the cyberattack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline and left many East Coast drivers waiting in line for…
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EPA Proposes Rule Cracking Down on Refrigerants
On April 30, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a rationing scheme for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a widely…
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IEA Study Quantifies the Need for More Mined Materials in Transitioning to a Low-Carbon Economy
CEI and others have noted the substantial need for mined materials to transition away from fossil fuels. Now a May 5 International Energy Agency…
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House Hearing Spells out Extent of Proposed Subsidies for Electric Vehicles
Democrats in the House of Representatives really want Americans to ditch their gasoline-powered cars and trucks for electric vehicles (EVs). A May 5 hearing…
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Minimal Environmental Benefits in the Infrastructure Plan’s Spending Spree on Electric Vehicles
As discussed in a previous post, the $174 billion for electric vehicles (EVs) in the Biden administration’s recently proposed $2.3 trillion dollar infrastructure…
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Can Money Buy Love When It Comes to Electric Vehicles? The Biden Administration Wants to Try with Its Infrastructure Package
There is a long history of Washington declaring gasoline-powered cars a thing of the past and subsidizing alternatives to replace them. It has never worked,…
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Are Electric Vehicles the Right Choice for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Consumers? Much Depends on Battery Life
A recent Wall Street Journal story compares an electric vehicle (EV) with a similarly sized internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle over their useful lives,…
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Contrasting Approaches to Energy Policy on Display in Two House Energy and Commerce Committee Bills
It is not hard to distinguish bad federal energy policy from good. Bad policy picks winners and losers among competing energy sources and technologies by…
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Does the Rebound Effect Undercut Savings from Energy Efficiency Standards?
There are plenty of reasons to oppose Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for home appliances such as those for air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes washer/dryers,…
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Report: California’s Electricity Price-Boosting Environmental Measures Disproportionately Harm the Poor
A new report published by Next 10 and the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, “Designing Electricity Rates for an Equitable Energy…
