In fact, climate change does not endanger the survival of civilization or the habitability of the planet. So-called climate solutions are bureaucratic power grabs and corporate welfare schemes with no detectable climate-related benefits.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute offers a realistic policy alternative to both catastrophism and denialism to policy makers and the public that preserves our climate and allows for abundant energy and economic development.
Featured Posts
Blog
Myths and facts about the PROVE IT Act
Myth: Supporting the PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) does not mean support for carbon taxes.Fact: Many bill supporters readily acknowledge that it will…
Blog
Why the PROVE IT Act would result in carbon taxes
The PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) is not a benign information collection bill on the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. Instead, it…
Daily Caller
Biden’s EPA Says Sweeping Power Plant Regs Won’t Harm America’s Grid — Experts Are Saying The Exact Opposite
CEI’s Marlo Lewis is cited in an article in Daily Caller on the on power plant regulation: “The final rule differs from the EPA’s May…
Search Posts
Blog
Myths and facts about the PROVE IT Act
Myth: Supporting the PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) does not mean support for carbon taxes.Fact: Many bill supporters readily acknowledge that it will…
Blog
Why the PROVE IT Act would result in carbon taxes
The PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) is not a benign information collection bill on the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. Instead, it…
Daily Caller
Biden’s EPA Says Sweeping Power Plant Regs Won’t Harm America’s Grid — Experts Are Saying The Exact Opposite
CEI’s Marlo Lewis is cited in an article in Daily Caller on the on power plant regulation: “The final rule differs from the EPA’s May…
Fox News
California’s green agenda is targeting every mode of transportation, despite wide opposition
CEI’s Marlo Lewis is cited on Fox News about California’s green agenda: “Commerce is the lifeblood of the economy and transportation of goods —…
Deseret
The Biden admin wants to change home appliances, Republicans are pushing back
CEI’s Ben Lieberman is cited on Deseret News about republican pushback to home appliance regulation: Ben Lieberman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute told Fox News the…
Blog
Green rules, red tape: What American farmers can learn from EU protests
The European Union (EU) has been implementing various measures to fundamentally transform the agricultural sector, notably through initiatives such as the European Green Deal…
Blog
The Inflation Reduction Act’s EPA slush fund gets going: Now it needs to be stopped
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced eight nonprofit organizations will be able to hand out $20 billion of taxpayer dollars to recipients…
Blog
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…
Blog
Hailstorm exposes vulnerabilities in solar infrastructure: A wake-up call from Texas
Recent destruction of solar cells at the Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Texas has sparked concerns amongst locals about potential land contamination and drawn…
Blog
Another ban from California: Say goodbye to most new gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
California is not just banning gas-powered vehicles and trying to ban diesel locomotives. The state is also banning the sale of new gas-powered…
Heritage
EPA’s Tailpipe Emissions Rule Rides Roughshod Over Our Freedoms
CEI’s Marlo Lewis was cited in a recent article in Heritage on an EPA emissions rule: Marlo Lewis, senior research fellow at the Competitive…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Trademark fees and threatened sloths
A cargo ship struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman died at age 90.
Blog
Questions about EPA’s electric vehicle rule—some answered, some not
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week posted the pre-Federal Register version of its de facto electric vehicle (EV) sales mandate rule. The rule…
Blog
Climate change doesn’t cause inflation.
A new study in Nature from two scientists and two European Central Bank officials argues that climate change could cause inflation. A Daily Caller…
Epoch Times
‘Green Innovation’ Study Shows California CO2 Policies Mainly Help China
CEI’s Daren Bakst is cited in the Epoch Times on a recent study on C02 policies in China: Daren Bakst, the director of CEI’s…
The Hill
The right way to neutralize China’s unfair economic advantage on climate
There’s a big push in Congress to eliminate any competitive edge handed to China as a result of domestic and international climate change policies. The…
https://www.thecollegefix.com/university-launches-semester-long-climate-emergency-campaign-to-protect-mother-earth/
University launches semester-long ‘climate emergency’ campaign to protect ‘Mother Earth’
CEI’s Daren Bakst is cited in The College Fix on a Western Michigan University climate campaign: But Daren Bakst, director of the Center for…
Blog
EPA’s latest unlawful assault on vehicle affordability and choice
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced final emission standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032…
Blog
The Fifth Circuit blocks the SEC’s climate disclosure rule in the first legal challenge to the rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently voted to approve its highly-awaited climate disclosure rule. However, fewer than 10 days after its finalization, the…
Blog
Fueling discontent: Minnesota’s costly push for a low carbon fuel standard
Lawmakers in Minnesota are considering a Clean Transportation Standard (CTS) that would impose increasingly stringent carbon-intensity reduction targets on all motor fuels used in the…
Blog
40th Anniversary Commemorative: How CEI killed credit for early action
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) turned 40 this month. I’m proud to have been a CEI scholar for more than a quarter century. Our friends,…
Blog
One way for government to improve air quality: Remove obstacles to prescribed fires
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule on particulate matter prematurely makes the primary annual standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) much…
Blog
SEC’s new climate disclosure rule a slow-motion train wreck
The day that many observers of financial regulation have long been awaiting (and dreading) has come; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has voted…
Blog
The Surge: New EPA rulemaking, Biden’s LNG ‘pause,’ and more
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
National Review
The SEC’s Climate-Disclosure Rule Goes against 90 Years of Restraint
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finalizing a mandatory climate-disclosure rule for public companies — perhaps the costliest regulatory mandate in its entire 90-year history.
Blog
An exemplary climate debate on campus
I recently returned from Miami and the campus of Florida International University (FIU), where I was pleased to take part in the FIU Environment…
Blog
EPA’s Scientific Integrity Policy is unscientific, lacks integrity
The Environmental Protection Agency recently released a draft update to its “Scientific Integrity Policy,” which aims to ensure the agency’s science-based decisions and…
American Thinker
The SEC Oversteps its Powers on Climate Change
CEI’s Stone Washington was cited in American Thinker on government overreach: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) just produced a comprehensive study addressing all these…
News Release
CEI leads coalition opposing carbon tariffs and the PROVE IT Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sent a coalition letter to Congress opposing a bill that would lay the groundwork for a carbon tax on…
Letters
Carbon Tariff Coalition Letter
Dear Members of Congress:As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is reportedly going to mark-up the PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) this week, the…
National Review
How Does One-Third the CO2 Emissions Cause Three Times the Climate Damage?
This month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published revised estimates of the social cost of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — the three…
Blog
CEI’s The Surge: COP28, House passes car legislation, and carbon taxes
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
Blog
COP28: The conference on penance
Dubai is currently hosting the 28th Conference on Penance (COP). Well, that’s what the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: The future of energy and environmental policy with Travis Fisher
In this week’s episode we cover the political path toward abundance, the need for permitting reform beyond the National Environmental Policy Act,…
Fox News
Experts raise alarm after Biden strikes agreement with China to shut down fossil fuels
Fox news cites CEI’s Marlo Lewis: “The cooperative initiatives outlined by State Department will create make-work for bureaucrats, subsidies for rent-seekers, photo ops for…
Blog
12 important amendments for the House Interior, environment spending bill
The House is currently debating H.R. 4821, its Interior and environment spending bill. There are many good amendments being considered on the floor. Here…
Blog
Issue at a glance: Blocking the Biden climate change slush fund
Overview of the issue: The Biden administration is using what has become a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) slush fund to spend billions of…
Blog
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…
Real Clear Energy
Climate Coup Alert: CEQ Proposes to Transform NEPA
In recent comments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), 24 state attorneys general led by Iowa AG Breanna Bird warn that CEQ’s July…
Washington Times
Newsom boosts climate cred by suing ‘Big Oil’ as California struggles to tap brakes on fossil fuels
CEI’s Myron Ebell is cited by the Washington Times on Newsom suing big oil: Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for…
Blog
What I told Congress about the unlawful plan to ‘align’ NEPA with Biden Climate Targets
I testified today at the House Natural Resources Oversight Subcommittee hearing on “Examining Systemic Government Overreach at CEQ.” My testimony developed three main points…
Blog
Senate needs to block USDA slush fund in its minibus bill
The House agriculture appropriations bill, which was favorably reported out of the Appropriations Committee, includes language to help put a stop to what has…
Blog
Climate policy deserves thoughtful discourse, not petty attacks: a response to Paul Krugman
Just because someone doesn’t support an extreme climate policy agenda, like the Inflation Reduction Act, doesn’t mean that they deny climate change is occurring. Science…
Blog
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…
Study
Global Infrastructure Permitting
Executive Summary The construction of major infrastructure projects, such as power plants, highways, and ports, is heavily regulated. In major industrial economies, such projects typically…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: electric motors and small business loans
Congress and President Biden reached a debt ceiling deal. Texas attorney general and antitrust hawk Ken Paxton was impeached. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
Bill targets ag department slush fund worth billions
The House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee favorably reported its spending bill along party lines Thursday. The bill’s next stop is the full House Appropriations…
Blog
EPA’s new coal rule: Still unlawful after all these years
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week posted the pre-publication draft of its proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) emission performance standards for fossil-fuel power plants…
National Review
The EPA Strikes Back
In last summer’s West Virginia v. EPA decision, the Supreme Court held that the EPA’s claims of vast new powers to reorganize America’s electricity sector raised…
Discourse Magazine
The SEC’s Progressive Rulemaking Will Be Its Statutory Undoing
Over the past two years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has radically shifted priorities. It has moved from its mission of protecting investors and…
Testimony
CEI’s Myron Ebell Testifies Before House Budget Committee on “Exposing the Woke, Wasteful, and Bloated Bureaucracy”
May 11, 2023 (Video of Myron Ebell’s congressional testimony can be watched here.) Chairman Arrington, Ranking Member Boyle, and Members of the Budget Committee,…
Wall Street Journal
Biden Cracks Down on Gas Stoves—and Much More
Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. fired a shot heard ’round America in January when he informed the public of his agency’s plans for natural-gas…
News Release
Biden EO on ‘Environmental Justice’ Poses Threat to all Americans
The Biden administration today announced a new executive order purporting to “further embed environmental justice into the work of federal agencies.” CEI regulatory and…
Blog
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…
News Release
CEI Publishes Collection of Kevin D. Williamson Writing on the Religious Character of the Environmental Movement
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) published a new monograph today by writer-in-residence Kevin D. Williamson, titled “Inside the Carbon Cult: Reports on…
Study
Inside the Carbon Cult
Foreword Kevin D. Williamson has a pretty good claim to being the best columnist in the United States right now. I don’t say that lightly.
Blog
CEI Advises CEQ to Withdraw Its NEPA Guidance on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change
Last week I submitted comments advising the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to withdraw its proposed guidance on consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG)…
Comment
Comments to the Council on Environmental Quality, Proposed Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance on consideration greenhouse gas (GHG)…
Blog
House Financial Services Committee Leans on SEC’s Gensler for More Transparency
House Financial Services Committee Leans on SEC’s Gensler for More Transparency Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee and some allies in the Senate are…
Testimony
QFR Answers from Marlo Lewis Regarding the Senate Budget Committee Hearing on 03/03/23
Dear Senator Grassley, Thank you again for inviting me to present testimony at the Senate Budget Committee’s March 1, 2023 hearing “Rising Seas, Rising Costs:…
Comment
CEI Comments on EPA Methane Emission Performance Standards for the Oil and Gas Sector
February 13, 2023 Docket No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2021–0317-1460 Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Comment
Comment to EPA on AIM Act Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hydrofluorocarbons
INTRODUCTION The undersigned free-market organizations have a longstanding interest in bringing to light the deleterious consequences of federal regulations, which are often neglected by agencies…
Washington Examiner
House Democrat on climate change caucus rakes in cash from oil and gas investments
Still, if Frankel was serious about targeting the fossil fuels industry through her pro-green energy stance, she would communicate to…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Congress in Support of H. R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act
Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, write to express our strong support for H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act,…
Op-Eds
Restrictions on Natural-Gas Stoves Are Climate Policy by Another Name
It has been heartening to see the strong backlash to the recent announcement that the Biden administration’s Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was considering restrictions and…
The Dispatch
The Real Climate Change Racket
“The first climate racketeering suit is here,” Slate declares. That is not quite true. It’s just that the first big climate-change racketeering case was not what…
News Release
EPA’s Proposed Rule Further Restricting Particulate Matter Emissions Would Harm U.S. Economic Development
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed rule today aimed at further restricting soot emissions from power plants, refineries and other industrial facilities.
Blog
Climate Fact Check 2022 Report Debunks Mainstream Media’s Tall Tales
Climate Fact Check 2022, a report issued this week by CEI and several other nonprofit groups, debunks claims made in the mainstream media this…
Fox News
Liberal media made slew of dubious claims about climate change, year-end report finds
Fox News cites CEI’s Climate Fact Check report: The “Climate Fact Check 2022” report, presented by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Heartland…
Products
Free to Prosper: Infrastructure Permitting Reform
In the midst of an economic crisis that has seen American families squeezed at the pump and in their home electricity bills, America needs to…
Products
Free to Prosper: Environment, Energy, and Climate
President Biden campaigned on a promise to “end fossil fuel.” Some dismissed it at the time as rhetorical bluster. We now know he was serious.
Blog
DOE’s Press Release on Federal Building Energy Standards Is Inaccurate, Misleading, and Unserious
The Department of Energy (DOE) last week released the pre-publication version of a proposed rule to “establish energy performance standards for the construction of…
Blog
Conversations from COP27: Kent Lassman Interview Series
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
USA Today
America needs the nuclear option to keep our homes warm – and to fight climate change
In early November, the U.S. Department of Energy chose Westinghouse to build a new, much-needed nuclear-power plant, one that will employ “the most advanced light…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Miller
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Palmer
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Cloud
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
COP27: CEI’s Kent Lassman Interviews Rep. Curtis
CEI President Kent Lassman attended the annual COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt as a non-governmental observer, formally the 27th meeting of the Conference…
Blog
Some Climate-Related Items that Recently Caught My Eye
Manhattan Contrarian Francis “Buddy” Menton hit two homers this week. In “Don’t Be So Sure the Climate Extremists Have Won,” Menton offers hopeful words…
News Week
Climate Policies Not Based on Market Principles Will Fail
Financial flows and trading markets were high on the agenda at COP27, the United Nations‘ latest climate conference. Unfortunately, economic rationality was not, as the…
Fox News
5 Reasons to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge instead of draining petroleum reserve
In response to continued high gasoline prices, President Joe Biden recently announced an extension of withdrawals of about 1 million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum…
Blog
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…
Blog
Climategate 2.0: EPA’s New Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases Report
When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed to adopt more aggressive methane emission standards for the oil and gas sector, it also…
National Review
COP27 Cables: China and Other Evasions
TL;DR Tuesday’s theme of the day was energy, which is a delicious irony considering how much of the COP27 discussion focuses on how to limit…
Letters
Climate Crisis Select Committee Coalition Letter
Dear Leader McCarthy, We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge you to disband the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis when Republicans take back control…
Blog
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…
Real Clear Energy
Expensive Energy Is a Core Feature, Not a Bug, of Biden’s Climate Agenda
“Every government intervention creates unintended consequences, which lead to calls for further government interventions,” observed the great Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. He was being…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
Are Nord Stream Methane Leaks “Catastrophic for Climate”?
Despite acknowledging that the Nord Stream pipelines were likely bombed by saboteurs, the Associated Press yesterday focused on the ruptures as a climate threat…
Blog
The Manchin Bill Will Not Reform Permitting Process
The Manchin-Schumer permitting bill, which has been attached to the Continuing Resolution funding the federal government beyond September 30, contains many promising-sounding reforms that…
Blog
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…
Politico
Climate Bill Boosts California Move to Clean Cars
Politico cites Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on California’s new climate bill: Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he…
Blog
The Inflation Reduction Act’s Implications for West Virginia v. EPA: A Response to Professor Dan Farber
An environmental reporter last week asked for CEI’s thoughts on University of California, Berkley law professor Dan Farber’s article on the Inflation Reduction…
Blog
Dispelling Misleading Claims about the Inflation Reduction Act and West Virginia v. EPA
In adversarial proceedings, it is seldom prudent to rely on your opponents’ assessment of the outcome. Alas, some conservatives seem inclined to believe Democrats’ self-serving…
Real Clear Energy
No, Democrats’ Climate Law Does Not Overturn West Virginia v. EPA
“And whatever interpretive force one attaches to legislative history, the Court normally gives little weight to statements, such as those of the individual legislators, made after the…
Blog
Does the Schumer-Manchin Bill Undercut West Virginia v. EPA? No, But Not For Lack of Trying
This Wednesday on Fox Business with Larry Kudlow and later on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that buried…
Staff & Scholars
Daren Bakst
Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy and Environment
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Ben Lieberman
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
Kevin D. Williamson
Writer in Residence
- Climate
- Energy and Environment