The Open Market Blog

• By: Jody Clarke
• 03/07/2007

The split among Christians over global warming is growing wider. While it appeared liberal environmentalists had pretty much convinced evangelicals that catastrophic global warming is…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/07/2007

An article in the Wall Street Journal today (p. B6, subscription required) focuses on the sharp spike in Midwest farmland prices resulting from the ethanol…

• By: Iain Murray
• 03/07/2007

Some global warming-related stories you may have missed: British companies involved in the Emissions Trading Scheme enjoy a $1.5 billion profits windfall while energy…

• By: Jody Clarke
• 03/06/2007

A few of us from CEI attended an event today featuring John O’Sullivan, author of The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister. O’Sullivan…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 03/06/2007

Wired Blogs reports that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling which found that Ziinet.com and 700law.com, two sites offering…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/05/2007

CEI and Bureaucrash operatives paid a visit to CPAC 2007 on Friday to take in the annual cavalcade of conservative conferees and the ideas…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2007

Last night’s new episode of “The Simpsons” skewers the No Child Left Behind Act’s testing requirements — in only a few seconds. School district…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/05/2007

So goes a chart heading in an article on oil production in today’s New York Times. The article points out that new technology, fueled…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/05/2007

A Sunday New York Times editorial, “The must-do list,” reviews the attacks on civil liberties in U.S. policies since 9/11. Worth a read, especially…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/05/2007

Over at Planet Gore, Iain and our former colleague Peter Suderman have some further commentary on the silly Washington Post article by…

• By: Sam Kazman
• 03/05/2007

Global warming deniers could perhaps dismiss the breakup of the polar ice caps as a far away phenomenon irrelevant to their daily lives. But now…

• By: Iain Murray
• 03/05/2007

The Wall Street Journal‘s energy blog is reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible insider trading in the TXU takeover deal.

• By: Iain Murray
• 03/05/2007

Lots of global warming-related stories you may have missed: Threat of Kyoto is leading to wholesale deforestation in New Zealand. U.N. climate talks…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/04/2007

Many libertarian economists and commentators have long criticized professional licensing as a protectionist scheme that restricts competition to the benefit of some (licensed) producers and to the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/04/2007

Today’s Washington Post “Outlook” section features an article by science fiction writer Bruce Sterling that needs to be read to be believed. Suffice it…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/03/2007

Today’s Journal also reports that the two environmental groups that endorsed the recent buyout of the utility TXU Corp. after the company agreed to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/03/2007

Today’s weekend Wall Street Journal‘s lead editorial (available free online at OpinionJournal.com) addresses the Climate Action Partnership, reitarating some of CEI’s arguments against this…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 03/02/2007

Last summer’s outbreak of E. coli contamination in packaged spinach that killed at least three people and sickened more than 200 others has now…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/02/2007

I noted yesterday that vetoing the Employee Free Choice Act, the mandatory card check bill that the House passed yesterday, would provide President George…

• By: Iain Murray
• 03/02/2007

David Ignatius is worried about the planet’s vulnerability to climate change, citing futurist Peter Schwartz. I see David’s Peter Schwartz and raise him an…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/01/2007

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved, by a 241-185 vote, the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800), which would destroy secret ballot protections in…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/01/2007

Behold: two news stories below. The first is from 1978, the second from 2006. I can hardly wait to see what the 2032 headline will…

• By: Christopher C. Horner
• 03/01/2007

For whatever reason, when then-economic advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Andrei Illarionov, began touting an official 2002 UK document styled “Report of…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/01/2007

I received a press release this morning from Wind Watch, a group dedicated to opposing the menace of the wind. With windchill-adjusted temperatures in…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/01/2007

Finally, a man who knows how to speak truth to power. Former Canadian Defence Minister Paul Hellyer has come out with the ideal solution…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/01/2007

It turns out that the Earth actually is being attacked by cosmic rays. New research is strongly suggesting that warming trends on this planet can…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/01/2007

CEI’s very own Fred Smith was on Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show yesterday talking about Al Gore and his notorious carbon footprint. Take it away,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 03/01/2007

The misleadingly named "Employee Free Choice Act" (H.R 800) reaches the House floor today. This bill would essentially do away with secret ballot elections in…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 03/01/2007

We’ve weighed in on the debate over “e-waste” – discarded electronics and computer parts – before, most notably via the work of our talented and…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 02/28/2007

Yesterday’s New York Times reports on a new study published in the Lancet, which questions those who advise pregnant women to cut back…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 02/28/2007

Prince Charles made headlines earlier this week when he suggested to the staff of a diabetes clinic in Abu Dhabi that McDonald’s fast food…

• By: John Berlau
• 02/28/2007

In selecting Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” as the winner for best documentary, the Academy Awards sent a disturbing message to aspiring documentary makers. The…

• By: Christine Hall
• 02/28/2007

In the news today, a brilliant idea by Prince Charles — Let’s just ban McDonald’s so that people eat healther! This is what happens…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/28/2007

The issue of global warming has attracted much attention over the past decade. CEI analysts such as Marlo Lewis have argued that regulations aimed at…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/27/2007

On February 26, a Rhode Island court ruled that the paint industry is liable for a statewide "public nuisance" because long ago, paint companies sold…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/27/2007

Apparently Al Gore now uses Green Power to light and heat his home, so he isn’t entirely hypocritical. However, the issue here is that…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/27/2007

When I read about sainted Al’s massive power demands I immediately thought, “Surely he must use Green Power from windmills or something like that.”…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2007

Well, the food-or-fuel debate has now been recognized by the mainstream media, previously salivating over the wonderful tax benefits and subsidies for corn…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2007

John Tierney does it again.  In Tierney’s profile today of Stewart Brand — a staunch environmentalist and the man who gave us the…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/27/2007

Some global-warming related stories you may have missed: The EU’s rapidly rising transport emissions mean that they won’t meet their Kyoto targets “without additional…

• By: Christine Hall
• 02/27/2007

Does Al Gore believe energy conservation is for the little people, the hoi polloi? The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, as reported by the…

• By: Christopher C. Horner
• 02/26/2007

How cute, Environmental Defense is declaring that “news just broke”—wink, they just now heard of it too!—that Texas Utilities (TXU)…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/26/2007

I recently testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. One of the other witnesses was Peter Darbee, CEO and President of PG&E Corporation.

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/26/2007

On C-SPAN last night, I was watching “Prime Minister’s Questions”—the wonderful British institution in which the Prime Minister answers questions, both from his sometimes…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/26/2007

Americans eat more junk than many other peoples, although the gap is diminishing, and many other Western countries are beginning to catch up to the…

• By: Christopher C. Horner
• 02/26/2007

In the latest installment of what has become an increasingly sorry drama, the European Union's Ambassador to the United States, former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton,…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/26/2007

Today’s Globe and Mail reports that Canadian environmental groups may soon succeed in getting the Province of Ontario to ban the use of lawn…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/25/2007

Freeborn John (good name for a good blog) has a post up remembering the excesses of British labor unions before Thatcher. As he notes,…

• 02/23/2007

A story in the Washington Post sports section points out that General Motors VP Brent Dewar is pushing NASCAR to switch from gasoline to…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/23/2007

Tyler Cowen has a good piece in the New York Times today about American cultural exports. He makes one particularly imprtant point: “Culture is…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/23/2007

Steve McIntyre finds something fishy happening with NASA’s records of historical temperatures. This deserves investigation.

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/23/2007

In the Wall Street Journal today (subscription required), Dorothy Rabinowitz takes a probing look at a recent “Law and Order” episode that transforms…

• By: Christopher C. Horner
• 02/23/2007

Otherwise quite-sound South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has weighed in on the political “global warming” sweepstakes with an op-ed in today’s Washington Post. To…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/23/2007

Fred Smith’s presentation at Guatemala’s Universidad Francisco Marroquin on how markets can help protect antiquities is now available online.

• By: John Berlau
• 02/22/2007

Intrepid Journalist Kevin Mooney of CNSNews.com just filed a can’t-miss story on Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. On the verge of the Academy Awards,…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/22/2007

A Guardian correspondent attempts to defend his admitted alarmism over global warming. In the comments, climate change economist Richard Tol dismantles his arguments: First,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/22/2007

First we had anti-globalization activists calling for “fair trade.” Now it seems not just trade is the problem but capitalism itself. Harold Meyerson in…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/22/2007

There are signs that caring about the environment is becoming a little passe. This is from an uber-cool British gossip email: Having nearly as bad…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/21/2007

Editorial writers in today’s Orlando Sentinel say they oppose Department of Homeland Security regulations that attempt to beef up security at the nation’s chemical…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/21/2007

Have you got a minute for Greenpeace’s youth wing? [youtube]BY7875_rv1s[/youtube] I think he wants your lunch money as well.

• By: Richard Morrison
• 02/21/2007

The endless list of calamities laid at the feet of global warming just got a little longer – witness the invasion of France by…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/21/2007

The Contra Costa Times reports today that minorities in the San Francisco Bay area suffer disproportionately from air pollution coming from industrial plants. The…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/21/2007

British web-based advocacy group/ think tank/ TV station has released an ad on ‘A World Without America.‘ It makes the case for technological adaptation…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/21/2007

I listened to this podcast on my way in today and I don’t think there’s a better introduction to our regulatory issues, especially to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/21/2007

I’m quoted in today’s Investor’s Business Daily on organized labor’s struggle to remain relevant in the private sector, where its numbers have been declining…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/20/2007

“Convention Center Not Living Up To Lofty Goals!” appeared as a headline in today’s Washington Post and should serve to remind everyone that the…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/20/2007

I recently received my Phi Beta Kappa magazine. Phi Beta Kappa is the standard “honor” society for students scoring well in college. I became a…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 02/20/2007

For years, we at CEI have warned that the European Union was using multilateral environmental agreements not just to defend its trade-obstructing precautionary regulation from…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/20/2007

Last week ago, I was asked to testify before the Environment and Public Works Committee, now chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer of California. Testifying is an interesting…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/16/2007

In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency issued warnings to pregnant women. They said that trace levels of methyl…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/16/2007

I couldn’t resist this article in the Washington Times today — “Chinese ant scammer gets death.” Seems a Chinese entrepreneur was selling ant kits…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/15/2007

It’s been called the Brazilian “miracle” — and Brazil’s ethanol program has been touted as a model for the U.S. and other countries to follow.

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/15/2007

The New York Times reports today that many consumers are turning to “green” cleaning products. If people are willing to pay more for these…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/15/2007

Well, I never. China admits it failed to meet any of its environmental goals for 2006: China’s environmental watchdog admitted Monday the country had…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/15/2007

Inserting more stringent labor provisions into U.S. free trade agreements was a major focus at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing yesterday. Chairman…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/15/2007

If global warming is the greatest and most urgent threat facing the planet, you’d think Greenpeace would be happy when a government takes steps to…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 02/15/2007

Gotta love the Net Neutrality ScareTicker: “It has been… 1548 days 12 hours 40 minutes … without a “net neutrality”…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/14/2007

Each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture releases 10-year commodity projections to provide figures for the budget and to estimate the cost of farm programs.

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/14/2007

Today, Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) reportedly will introduce the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act, which would reverse…

• By: John Berlau
• 02/14/2007

The news media is sending a scary Valentine to American couples. They’re claiming that Valentine’s Day roses imported from Colombia may have been “dipped in…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 02/14/2007

The Progress and Freedom Foundation’s Scott Wallsten notes the urgency of franchise reform as the path to greater broadband access and availability. The FCC’s recent…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/14/2007

CEI Senior Fellow Christopher Horner was on “The Daily Show” last night to promote his excellent new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 02/13/2007

A relatively flexible labor market has long been one of America’s great economic strengths — as well as of Great Britain relative to Continental Europe.

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 02/13/2007

An Associated Press story today warns that the roses you get for Valentines Day could be lethal.  In places like Columbia, they are “sprayed, rinsed…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders lamented how, despite the corporate welfare Detroit has received over the decades, it is lagging behind Toyota in technological development. Hmmm.

• By: Richard Morrison
• 02/13/2007

It has been brought to my attention that Open Market’s own Chris Horner is currently bounding up the Amazon bestseller list with his new book,…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Senator Bond is making the connection between Enron and cap and trade quite explicitly.

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

There is considerable confusion among the Democratic Senators as to whether or not the U.S. has signed Kyoto. Senator Lautenberg stated the U.S. has not…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Bill Lash admitted in answer to a question from Sentor Klobuchar that an upstream cap and trade system is just like a cap. He did…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Senator Klobuchar has just suggested that we might not be getting “the truth” out of Government scientists. If she is so concerned about politicization of…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Senator Carper asked the PG&E spokesman what his motivation was. He replied that because PG&E’s business model “decouples” its revenues from its sales, cap and…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Fred is speaking now, underlining that CEI is pro-market, not pro-business necessarily. He is warning against the carbon cartel, the creation of a rationing sytem…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Kevin Hook, an energy analyst speaking in a personal capacity, points out that some of the CAP’s suggestions could raise national gasoline bill by over…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

Steve Elger from BP America is now speaking. I wonder if he’ll mention BP’s safety record while it has been saving the planet?…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

At the EPW hearing on the Climate Action Partnership, Jonathan Lash of the World Resources Institute talks about how his group’s target is 450 –…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

The CEO for energy company PG&E, a company that does not use any significant amounts of coal, is setting out an admirable program of efficiency…

• By: Iain Murray
• 02/13/2007

At a Senate hearing today to discuss the rent-seeking cartel masquerading as the Climate Action Partnership, Fred Smith will present the testimony here. Senator…