In recent years, especially under the Biden administration, there has been an unprecedented attack on the supply of reliable and affordable energy, from reducing oil and gas lease sales to the administration’s efforts to shift from reliable electricity sources to renewable energy sources. The partisan Inflation Reduction Act is a central piece of the harmful electrification effort that will undermine the electricity grid. If all of this was not bad enough, there are also governmental efforts to limit Americans from using reliable and affordable energy, such as efforts to severely limit the availability of gas-powered vehicles and bans on natural gas appliances.
Ensuring abundant, reliable, and affordable energy is a must, as is consumer freedom when it comes to energy. The Competitive Enterprise Institute advocates for policies to keep energy abundant, affordable, and competitive. Carbon fuels—coal, natural gas, and oil—provide about 80 percent of U.S. and global energy. They are the world’s dominant energy sources because, in most markets, they beat the alternatives in both cost and performance.
CEI is leading efforts to defend the personal energy choices of Americans. We advocate for policies that will stop government at all levels from banning or restricting what good and services Americans can choose to best meet their needs.
For decades, CEI has opposed regulatory overreach from the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies that put undue costs on energy industries and consumers. These include President Biden’s new power plant rule, the “Blackout Plan,” which would ignore the major questions problems detailed in West Virginia v. EPA, increase consumer electricity prices, and threaten grid reliability. CEI’s research and policy proposals have been instrumental on energy issues.
Featured Posts
Blog
House to consider two bills that would place limits on federal appliance meddling
It is time for Congress to place limits on costly and intrusive federal meddling in home appliances. Two House bills coming up for a vote…
Blog
EPA repeals another costly rule targeting affordable and reliable coal
Though not nearly as far-reaching as the recently announced end to the Endangerment Finding, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) February 20 final rule repealing…
News Release
Trump EPA revokes endangerment finding, big win for the American people: CEI analysis
On Thursday, the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the revocation of the 2009 endangerment finding regarding greenhouse gas emissions from new…
Search Posts
Blog
Coronavirus Emergency Is No Reason for Delaying Energy Project Approvals
On April 29, five members of Congress sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that nicely summarizes why the energy infrastructure approval and…
Blog
Hurry, See “Planet of the Humans,” Before It’s Banned
Planet of the Humans, the new documentary film from director Jeff Gibbs and executive producer Michael Moore, contains a stunning evisceration of so-called green energy and the people profiting from it.
Blog
EPA Takes Step in Support of Coal-Refuse-to-Energy
Green groups oppose efforts to deal with the coal refuse problem that plagues many coal mining communities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The EPA is…
Blog
Pipeline-Starved New York City Avoids Natural Gas Shortages this Winter, but May Face Problems in the Future
New York City made it through another winter without any serious natural gas shortages, but it may not be so lucky next year. National Grid…
Blog
The Next Alleged Environmental Threat: Coal Falling off Trains
Proponents of climate change are repurposing older statutes into climate policy tools, even though they were never intended for that purpose. The environmentalists’ goal is…
Blog
Federal Court Decision Underscores Need for NEPA Reform
The comment period has closed for the Council on Environmental Quality’s proposed updates to the implementing rules for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Many…
Blog
Energy Special Interests Demand Handouts in Massive Coronavirus Stimulus Bill
Energy special interests began swarming the Capitol, as Congress passed a second emergency spending bill addressing the coronavirus pandemic and began to put together a $1 trillion or larger stimulus…
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
Trump Wants Less Federal Meddling in Home Energy Use, but Some in Congress Want More
Federal energy efficiency standards have a long history of unintended adverse consequences, from more expensive light bulbs with questionable light quality to dishwashers that take…
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
House Energy and Commerce Democrats Release Omnibus Climate Bill
Senior Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a discussion draft of their omnibus climate bill on January 28. The draft bill begins…
Blog
Trump Administration Better on Permit Approvals for Energy Projects than for Minerals Projects Like the Pebble Mine
The Trump administration is doing a good job reducing red tape and streamlining the permitting process for energy production and energy infrastructure projects, but on…
Blog
Department of Energy Finalizes Process Rule for Appliance Efficiency Standards
There are a number of problematic Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for home appliances. Perhaps worst of all is the one resulting in dishwashers…
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
Trump Promotes Energy Abundance and Decries Prophets of Doom at Davos
President gave a powerful speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he challenged the politically correct platitudes and energy-rationing agenda that dominate discussion…
Study
The American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act: Myth vs. Fact
Beginning in the 1970s, concerns that the refrigerants used in most air conditioners and refrigerators were leaking into the air and depleting the Earth’s ozone…
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
2019: A Great Year for Light Bulb Freedom
Whatever else one may say about 2019, it was a banner year for consumer choice when it comes to light bulbs, culminating in the December…
Blog
Free-Market Coalition Opposes Transportation and Climate Initiative
Eleven Northeast states plus the District of Columbia on December 17th released a draft memorandum of understanding this week on how to implement their Transportation and…
Blog
White House Blocks Most Green Energy Tax Credits in Final Spending Bill
The spending packages to fund the federal government through the end of the 2020 fiscal year ending on October 1st, which were passed by the…
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
Congress Racing To Extend and Expand Electric Vehicle, Wind, and Solar Tax Credits
It would be comforting to think that the House’s impeachment proceedings have so poisoned relations between Democrats and Republicans that the Congress won’t be able…
Blog
Supreme Court to Hear Important Natural Gas Pipeline Case
Next February, the U.S. Supreme Court will review the 2018 decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al. v. …
Blog
Climate Mass Migration Myth
The paper “Climate Migration Myths,” published in the latest edition of the prestigious journal Nature Climate Change, is a large-scale beat-down of the notion that climate…
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
House Committee Releases Tax Bill to Extend Electric Vehicle, Wind, and Solar Handouts
In what amounts to the tax component of the Green New Deal, the House Ways and Means Committee released a draft of its “Growing Renewable Energy…
Blog
Congress Breaking Promises, Extending Tax Credits for Electric Vehicles, Wind, and Solar
It is not unusual for Congress to keep extending a supposedly temporary federal program, and that includes the tax credits for electric vehicles and wind…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Support Trump Light Bulb Reform
The Bush and Obama administrations imposed a number of restrictions on light bulbs, but the Trump administration is pushing back on behalf of consumers. Today,…
Comment
CEI Comments on Energy Conservation Standards for General Service Incandescent Lamps
The undersigned free market organizations have a longstanding interest in bringing to light the deleterious consequences of regulations, which are often neglected by federal agencies…
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
Stop State Government Abuse of Clean Water Act
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute led a coalition letter in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule, “Updating Regulations on Water Quality Certification.” The rule would…
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
California Utility Cuts Power to Avoid Fires Caused by Downed Power Lines
Pacific Gas and Electric has intentionally turned off electricity to up to two million people in parts of northern California for hours and days at…
Blog
‘Art of the Deal’ Meets Renewable Fuel Standard
It’s the ultimate dealmaker versus the ultimate dealmaking challenge. President Trump has again sought changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that he hopes both…
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…
Blog
Greenpeace Disrupters Arrested for Shutting Down Houston Ship Channel
Ahead of the September 12th Democratic presidential primary debate, activists from the group Greenpeace were arrested after pulling a stunt that briefly held Houston commuters hostage…
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…
Blog
Department of Energy Expands Consumer Choice in Light Bulbs
The Trump administration took a pro-consumer step today as the Department of Energy finalized a rule that will allow certain types of lower-cost light bulbs to…
The Washington Times
Trump Administration Seeks to Juice Dishwashers by Scrubbing Energy Regulations
The Washington Times cites General Counsel Sam Kazman on dishwasher efficiency. Sam Kazman, general counsel of the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, which…
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
Environmental Red Tape Could Roadblock Green New Deal
The Green New Deal reads like a progressive’s letter to Santa, a wish list that is, by the admission of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) chief of staff,…
Fox News
Swing-State Households Would Lose at Least $70G Within First Year of Green New Deal, Study Finds
Fox News cites CEI’s latest study on the Green New Deal, written by CEI President Kent Lassman and Power the Future Executive Director Daniel Turner.
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
Department of Energy Grants Petition To Speed Up Dishwashers
The Department of Energy (DOE) on July 2nd announced the first step in reversing energy efficiency standard that resulted in dishwashers taking hours to clean…
The Solar Tribune
Clean Energy Public Policy: What are the Possible Policy Mechanisms
The Solar Tribune cites Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman on appliance energy standards. “The goal is to reduce energy bills, but even DOE admits…
Staff & Scholars
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Paige Lambermont
Research Fellow
- Capitalism and Free Enterprise
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Ben Lieberman
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy
Jacob Tomasulo
Policy Analyst
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment