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

Center Square Opinion
Op-Ed: Lawmakers deserve credit for recent success against the Green New Deal
Lawmakers took a significant step toward ending the Green New Deal. In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), they started to dismantle the radical…

Wall Street Journal
How to Beat the High Cost of Cooling
President Trump doesn’t hide his dislike of federal appliance regulations, from water-stingy shower heads that he says make it difficult “to take care of my…

Blog
Power plant greenhouse gas emissions don’t contribute significantly to ‘dangerous air pollution’
CEI recently submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Proposed Rule to repeal greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for fossil fuel power…
Search Posts
NCPA
Cutting Oil Company Tax Breaks Could Push Prices Up, Analysts Say
NCPA
Chris Horner on New Regulations for Icemakers
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses the proposed Department of Energy regulations to mandate increased “energy efficiency” for icemakers…
NCPA
Chris Horner on Green Energy Programs
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner explains how politically dictated “green” energy programs move public money overseas and result in…
NCPA
Chris Horner on High Gas Prices
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses the effects of regulatory uncertainty for the energy industry as well…
NCPA
The Full Price of Ethanol
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses how support for ethanol affects the price of many food and consumer items.
Breitbart
The Truth About Obama and Nuclear Power
We have established that Obama’s war on coal assumed a massive, crash program of 100 new nuclear reactors — for optics purposes, keeping the cost of…
Breitbart
Chris Horner on the Future of Energy
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses the prospects of coal and nuclear power. Horner says the Obama administration wants to use current crises to force…
Study
Clearing the Air on the EPA’s False Regulatory Benefit-Cost Estimates and Its Anti-Carbon Agenda
The EPA’s anti-carbon campaign threatens to greatly undermine future U.S. economic growth and job creation, while doing virtually nothing to restrict global CO2 emissions, and,…
Breitbart
As Japan Crisis Unfolds, Energy Secretary Steven Chu Fails Nuclear and Leadership Test
With reactors at the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear plant in danger of a meltdown, the world waits with bated breath for the outcome. Interestingly, physicists, the…
Daily Caller
How a moratorium on nuclear power could stop Obama’s clean energy agenda in its tracks
Fox Business
Japan Crisis Shouldn’t Derail Nuclear Movement in U.S.
Washington Times
Inside the Beltway
Washington Times discusses nuclear meltdowns in Japan with Iain Murray. “Either Secretary Chu is so beholden to the ‘green’ movement that he feels…
Washington Times
Diverse policy groups oppose fed subsidies for ethanol
Washington Times
Will E-15 distribution end before it begins?
Washington Times
Chris Horner on Green Incentives and Broken Promises
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner explains why the District of Columbia is reneging on its promise to reimburse residents…
News Release
House Considers Bill To Stop EPA Power Grab
Washington, D.C. February 9, 2011 – A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee today will hold a hearing on critical legislation – the Energy Tax Prevention…
News Release
How Many Congressmen Does It Take to Screw the Light Bulb?
Washington, D.C., February 9, 2011—The federal government’s push to increase fuel efficiency is ruining the appliances we depend on. That’s the conclusion of “Energy…
Washington Times
The Ethanol Idiocy That Will Not Die
Study
EPA Guilty of Environmental Hyperbole in Mountaintop Mining Veto
On January 13, 2011, the EPA vetoed the issuance of a Clean Water Act permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Mingo…
Washington Times
Chris Horner on Crony Capitalism
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses how the government picks winners and losers in the…
Washington Times
The Power of the EPA
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Chris Horner tells us how the EPA is being used to enforce…
Cigar Magazine
How Many Congressmen Does It Take to Screw the Light Bulb?
Full Document Available in PDF The man at your door appears to be…
Cigar Magazine
Trading Honesty for Votes
Washington Examiner
Obama pushing energy agenda already rejected by voters
Washington Examiner
Obama’s SOTU Speech: More Spending on Democrat Special Interests
Washington Examiner
On energy policy, Obama talks down to Americans
“Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they’re selling. So tonight,…
Washington Examiner
Dems Prefer Academic Theories of Job Creation to Economic Reality
Washington Examiner
Are Biofuel Policies Fueling a Global Food Crisis?
One News Now
Aged Technologies ‘Don’t Deserve’ Subsidies
Study
Avoid Energy and Global Warming Policies that Pose Greater Risks than Global Warming
Liberate to Stimulate Index Global warming has been described as the greatest threat facing mankind, but the policies designed to address global…
News Release
EPA Ratchets Up Campaign to Destroy Jobs
Washington, D.C., January 14, 2011 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sharply criticized the Environmental Protection Agency for its decision to revoke a Clean Water…
Big Government
Proponents of California’s Global Warming Law Were Against Renewables Before They Were For Them
Wall Street Journal
Big Lies and Little Ones
Wall Street Journal
Inspector General Says ‘Jobs Saved’ Numbers Are Nonsense; Totals ‘Should Be Offset By Thousands Destroyed’
Wall Street Journal
Chris Horner on UN Climate Summit
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses the United Nations climate conference in Cancun, Mexico. He explains that…
Letters
Coalition letter: Allow the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit to Expire
Full Document Avalible in PDF A coalition of political groups today urged Congress to scrap energy subsidies by allowing the subsidies to…
News Release
Obama Offshore Oil Moratorium Breaks Promise, Hurts Economy, Kills Jobs
Washington, D.C., December 1, 2010 — Today, the Obama Administration pulled an about-face on its earlier plan to allow more domestic offshore oil drilling. The…
News Release
Left/Right Coalition Urges Congress to Let Ethanol Subsidies Expire in 2010
Washington, D.C., November 29, 2010 — A coalition of political groups today urged Congress to scrap energy subsidies by allowing the subsidies to expire at…
Shop Floor
EPA: Today Texas, Tomorrow the Nation
Study
Automobile Fuel Economy Standards
Full Document Available in PDF The federal government’s fuel economy standards for new cars are…
One News Now
Obama-Backed Green Company to Slash Jobs, Dump Expansion
News Release
EPA Offers Draconian “Guidance” for Global Warming Energy Restrictions
Washington, D.C., November 10, 2010 — The Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency finally today released its “guidance” for how power plants and oil refiners will…
Denver Post
Nation Watching Xcel’s Plans for Aging Coal-Fired Power Plants
Denver Post
PUC to Review Xcel Plan
Denver Post
Push Continues to let Ethanol Subsidies Expire Despite oil Subsidy Mountain
Study
Colorado’s Clean Air Clean Jobs Act Will Accomplish Neither
Government Officials and Special Interests Pushed HB 1365 on a Foundation of Fallacies…
Denver Post
Should Ethanol Subsidies Be Gone (With the Wind)?
News Release
Ethanol + Wind Power = #Fail
Washington, D.C., October 26, 2010 — Ethanol subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, and, so far, American taxpayers have wasted…
Study
Is Wind the Next Ethanol?
One “Renewable” Energy Source Follows another’s History of Failure…
News Release
Obama’s Truck Regulations Are Another Torpedo To US Economy
Washington, D.C., October 25, 2010 — As part of the Obama Administration’s ill-conceived energy-rationing campaign, today the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to target heavy-duty…
National Review
Obama’s Tax Cut for Rich Oil Companies
National Review
Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Champions Renewable Fuel Standards
National Review
An Appeal to End Ethanol Tariffs, Subsidies
National Review
Biofuel or Bust? Ethanol Subsidies Should be Dropped
The long struggle to make ethanol a viable and relevant auto fuel in America got a boost recently from the Environmental Protection Agency, but allowing…
National Review
Ben Lieberman on consumer costs of regulations
CEI Senior Fellow in Environmental Policy Ben Lieberman explains how new environmental regulations for household appliances will end up costing consumers more money. These increased…
National Review
Browse More Videos Ben Lieberman on Government Regulations
Senior Fellow in Environmental Policy Ben Lieberman discusses the extent of federal regulations in our daily lives.
Kiowa County Signal
CFL bulbs kills U.S. jobs
Kiowa County Signal
Chris Horner on Overestimation of Emissions
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses how miscalculated emissions figures were used to…
Kiowa County Signal
Chris Horner on Overestimation of Emissions
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses how miscalculated emissions figures were used to justify pollution regulations in…
NCPA
GE Closes Last Incandescent Light Bulb Plant, Jobs Sent to China
State Journal Register
Illinois Must Get Out of Regional Cap-and-Trade
State Journal Register
China Winning Renewable Energy Race
Study
Cap-and-Trade Schemes are Not Markets
Cap-and-trade supporters are trying to get Republican lawmakers on board a new cap-and-trade policy, this time it's "market-based."…
Study
Colorado’s Great Green Deception
If HB 1001Seems too Good to Be True, It’s Because It Is…
Kiowa County Signal
The Lights Go Out on 200 Jobs and an Era
Newsletter
Stimulus, Tax Reform, and Incandescent Light Bulbs
Hans Bader points out that, according to the CBO, the stimulus will shrink the economy "in the long run." Chris Horner explains why this new…
Newsletter
Bailouts, Wind Energy, and Credit Card Regulation
Hans Bader argues that the new bailout makes responsible citizens "Suckers." Myron Ebell thinks it is doubtful that wind farms will survive Hurricane Earl. John…
Kiowa County Signal
Christie’s at Sea With That Windmill Scheme
Kiowa County Signal
Chris Horner discusses new car stickers
Senior Fellow Chris Horner discusses the government's proposal to grade cars and have a sticker displaying the grade.
Kiowa County Signal
No More Ethanol for America, Please
In “Ethanol for America,” Jim Nussle accuses opponents of subsidized ethanol of misleading the public, while trumpeting ethanol’s alleged success story. As is the case…
Kiowa County Signal
China, Economic Growth, and “Green Jobs”
The news about China overtaking Japan as the world’s second-largest economy is actually quite relevant to the US climate and energy policy debate, which…
Kiowa County Signal
Myron Ebell Debates Whether the Government Should Subsidize Energy
CEI Director of Energy Policy Myron Ebell comments on the move for the government to pick winners and losers in the energy industry.
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Offshore Drilling and the Complexity of Obamacare
The House Financial Services Committee passes the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. Today the House of Representatives will vote on an energy…
News Release
House to Vote on Oil Spill Bill
Washington, D.C., July 30, 2010—Today the House of Representatives will vote on an energy bill to address BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The bill,…
News Release
Senate Plan to Prevent Oil Spill Should Eliminate Government Cap on Liability
Washington, D.C., July 30, 2010—The Senate is preparing to vote next week on a bill aimed at preventing future BP-style oil spills—a plan that could…
News Release
EPA Refuses to Reconsider Harmful Energy Regulations
Washington, D.C., July 30, 2010 – The EPA Thursday rejected petitions to reconsider the agency’s move to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as a “public endangerment”…
Study
Who Should Pay for the Gulf Oil Spill?
Liability and Incentive Issues Raised by the Deepwater Horizon Incident…
Kiowa County Signal
Chris Horner on the Politics of Cap and Trade
CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner debates the politics and economics of a cap and trade scheme for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Washington Post
BG&E’s Smart Grid Program Faces another Regulatory Hurdle
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, the Gulf Oil Spill, and Privacy on Facebook
Congress passes the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill. The New York Times chronicles the economic fallout from the BP oil spill. Pundits argue that Facebook is…
Newsletter
Law School, Air Conditioning and Media Criticism
Elizabeth Wurtzel, of the Brennan Center for Justice, makes the case for abolishing the bar exam for law students. Author Stan Cox argues against the…
Denver Daily News
Markets Should Drive Xcel, Not Social Values
Xcel Energy is getting a lot of grief over its new “tiered” rate increase Ń a.k.a., the air-conditioner tax Ń but the criticism is…
Newsletter
EPA’s Gangster Style, LibertyWeek Turns 100 and Comparing BP to Enron
The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gain the auto industry’s support for new fuel economy standards. The LibertyWeek podcast records…
Baltimore Sun
Maryland’s Smart Grid Fiasco
Last month, the Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s "smart grid" proposal. From start to finish, the whole affair demonstrated everything that…
Newsletter
Regulating Strippers, Blowout Prevention and Kagan’s Hearings
Missouri enacts “anti-stripper” legislation placing new restrictions on adult entertainment establishments. The House of Representatives holds a hearing on the Blowout Prevention Act. Elena Kagan’s…
Newsletter
A Supreme Court Win, a New Push for Free Trade and the Pentagon’s Biofuels Boondoggle
CEI scores a Supreme Court victory in the case of Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. President Obama is getting ready to…
Newsletter
Climate Skeptics, The Case Against Cap and Trade and Oil Spill Red Tape
The National Academy of Sciences recently published a report attacking the credentials of climate change skeptics. The Gulf oil spill has…
Newsletter
Elena Kagan, Five Years of Kelo and Offshore Oil Drilling
More details about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan come to light. Today is the 5-year anniversary of the landmark property rights decision in the case…
Baltimore Sun
Obama Uses Oil Spill to Push Failed Energy Policies
In his speech, President Obama used the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to push his failed energy policies, such as…
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Orcs on Wall Street and the Chimera of Green Jobs
Congress continues to discuss a plan that would legalize online gambling in all fifty states. The government is on the prowl…
Baltimore Sun
Obama’s Actions Prevent Timely Clean-Up By U.S. Allies
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that … possess some of the world’s most…
Baltimore Sun
Obama Blocks Louisiana, Foreign Allies from Oil Spill Clean-Up
The Obama Administration recently used red tape to force Louisiana to stop using 16 barges that were cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico…
Baltimore Sun
Chris Horner on Obama Energy Policy
CEI's Senior Fellow Chris Horner explains the problems with President Obama's energy policies.
Newsletter
EPA Disapproval, Oil Spill Politics and Ethanol Technology
Last week, the Senate rejected Lisa Murkowski’s resolution of disapproval against the EPA. President Obama has refused offers from several European countries to help clean…
Newsletter
Nuclear Power, AmeriCorps Fraud, and Climate Change ‘Denial’
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future has drawn public ire for their decisions regarding nuclear power. President Obama is…
Baltimore Sun
Most Green Jobs Went to Foreign Firms (Letter to the Editor)
It is incredible that the federal government spent billions of dollars on so-called "green jobs" without having any definition of what a green…
Baltimore Sun
The Obama Window
Oh, dear. Politico reports that the president will make another push for his central planning repackaged as a “green economy” in a national address…
Baltimore Sun
Obama Refuses to Waive Law to Allow Foreign Help With Oil Spill
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of…
Baltimore Sun
Action Needed Now to Stop EPA Power Grab
I wrote this morning in the American Spectator about how tight the vote is on Senator Murkowski’s bid to stop the…
Baltimore Sun
America’s Nuclear Future Must Involve the Public
Things have not looked so good for nuclear power since the dawn of the Atomic Age. The public is more accepting of the potential…
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