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
Study
Free the Appliances!
Introduction The Department of Energy’s (DOE) appliance efficiency standards program has been in place for decades, subjecting nearly every major home appliance to multiple rounds…
Blog
What’s coming in 2026 for energy and environmental policy
There are many important energy and environmental developments in the works, both in the executive branch and in Congress. The following are two different lists.
Blog
Subcommittee to markup commonsense Clean Air Act bills
Tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a markup of several Clean Air Act-related bills.NAAQS refers to the…
Search Posts
Daily Caller
Dozens of Scientists, Orgs Rally Behind Trump’s Planned Climate Change Panel
The Daily Caller cited Director of the Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell on CEI led coalition letter to President Trump on his proposed…
Comment
CEI Comments on EPA’s Review of its Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Performance Standards for New Coal-fired Power Plants
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) review of its carbon dioxide (CO2) performance standards for new coal-fired power…
Blog
Interior States Take on Coastal States over Climate-Related Project Approvals
When the state of Washington rejected a proposed new coal export facility in 2017, it probably expected the usual appeals from the project’s developers. But it…
Blog
Maryland Considers Another Anti-Gas Pipeline Measure
The abundant natural gas produced in Pennsylvania and West Virginia could do a lot of good for East Coast states—reducing electric bills, improving reliability, and…
The Washington Examiner
The Inefficiency of Efficiency: Appliance Standards Often Cost More Than They Save
It is hard to find anything in Washington more inefficient than an efficiency standard for home appliances. Each standard can require more than 30 bureaucratic…
Blog
House Democrats Take on Department of Energy over Appliance Efficiency Standards
The Department of Energy (DOE) has been regulating the energy efficiency of home appliances since 1987, ostensibly for the benefit of consumers, but the Obama-era…
Blog
How Much Will the Green New Deal Cost Your Family?
The American Action Forum (AAF) yesterday posted a preliminary analysis of the scope, implications, and costs of the Green New Deal (GND). I can’t wait…
Blog
More New England Natural Gas Pipelines Needed, But Unlikely
New England continues to struggle with barely-adequate electric reliability, especially during the region’s winter cold spells. This is due in large part to the retirements of…
Blog
California’s Gov. Newsom Slams Brakes on California Bullet Train
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on February 12th unexpectedly slammed the brakes on the state’s high-speed rail project. The project “as currently planned, would cost too…
Blog
Sen. McConnell Calls for Senate Vote on Green New Deal, Markey Calls ‘Sabotage’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on February 12th that he planned to schedule a vote on the Green New Deal Resolution in the near future using Rule…
Blog
Appalachian Trail Should Not Block New Energy Development
The Department of Justice is pushing back against a federal court decision that could jeopardize the future availability and affordability of natural gas across America’s…
Blog
Carbon Capture and Storage Not ‘Best System’ to Reduce Emissions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday held an all-day “listening session” at its Washington, D.C. headquarters on its proposal to revise the Obama administration’s new…
Blog
Green New Deal Launched with Support from Democratic Presidential Candidates
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) held a press conference outside the Capitol building on February 7th to introduce their House and Senate resolutions for a…
Blog
EPA’s Andrew Wheeler Appoints John Christy to Science Advisory Board
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler on January 31st announced the appointment of some 29 experts to serve on the agency’s Science Advisory Board…
Blog
Forecast: U.S. to Become Net Energy Exporter in 2020
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the United States to become a net energy exporter in 2020. That is the “reference case” projection in…
The Washington Times
Goodbye to a Misguided War on Coal
The unexpected departure of Dr. Jim Yong Kim as president of the World Bank gives President Donald J. Trump the perfect opportunity to reverse the anti-fossil fuel, energy poverty…
Blog
EPA’s Wheeler Responds to Renewable Fuel Standard Questions
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held its confirmation hearing for acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler on January 16th. The Renewable Fuel…
Blog
Supreme Court Should Review Oregon’s Discriminatory Fuel Pricing Rules
Last week, American fuel manufactures filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to review a lower court decision upholding an Oregon law…
Blog
Green New Deal: 626 Groups Send Congress a Back-to-Dark Ages Manifesto
Six-hundred twenty-six organizations, some of them major environmental groups, sent a letter to Members of the House of Representatives on January 10th that details their demands for…
Blog
Attacks on Trump Administration Environmental Federalism Fall Short
Today’s Energy & Environment News (subscription required) has an article titled “Wheeler preaches federalism on water, not cars.” The gist is that various critics claim…
Blog
How Realistic Is National Climate Assessment’s Worst Case Scenario?
How realistic is the National Climate Assessment’s worst-case emissions scenario? A report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday sheds some interesting…
Investor's Business Daily
Trump Is Right — Subsidies for Electric Cars, Renewable Energy Must End
Investor’s Business Daily cited CEI’s coalition letter opposing extension of electric vehicle tax credits. In a study for the Manhattan Institute’s Economics 21…
Washington Examiner
Electric-Car Tax Credits Are Popular — And Congress Can’t Decide Whether To Expand Or Abolish Them
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment Director Myron Ebell on electric-car tax credit. “The people who buy these vehicles are…
Blog
Draft Legislation Proposes Transition from Renewable Fuel Standard to High-Octane Fuel
In a sweeping effort to change the way Washington regulates both fuels and vehicles, Reps. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Bill Flores (R-TX) of the House…
Blog
The Montreal Protocol—Did it Really Make a Difference?
An executive summary of the latest scientific compendium on ozone depletion, the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018 is now out. The report was released in…
Blog
Judge Blocks Keystone XL Pipeline
Montana federal judge Brian Morris ruled on November 8th that the State Department and TransCanada Corporation must discontinue all efforts to construct or operate the Keystone XL…
Blog
What Do the Midterms Mean for Carbon Taxes?
Washington State’s Initiative 1631 to establish a “carbon emissions fee” went down in flames Tuesday with opponents outvoting supporters by 56 to 44 percent.
Blog
Infrastructure in Divided Congress Must Include Regulatory, Permitting Reforms
Even before the results were in, the election-night talking heads were speculating on what, if anything, congressional Democrats and Republicans can agree on and get…
Blog
Environmental Groups Petition EPA to Prevent Damage from Renewable Fuel Standard
EarthJustice, the National Wildlife Federation, and other environmental pressure groups have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to better police the land use requirements in…
Blog
Hole in the ACE: Legal Flaws in EPA’s Proposed ‘Clean Power Plan’ Replacement
The comment period closed this week (October 31st) for the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed replacement for the so-called…
Blog
ACE-ing the Repeal of the Clean Power Plan
The Trump administration is in the midst of moving forward with its proposed Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, a replacement for the Obama-era…
Blog
Fewer Regulations, More Energy, Lower Emissions
The Trump administration had cheery news to report this week about deregulation, U.S. energy production, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Washington Times
Trump To Raise Limit On Ethanol In Gasoline
The Washington Times cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on E15 fuel limit raise. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, which frequently supports Mr. Trump’s initiatives,…
Citation
CEI: Reported Trump Administration Plan to Boost E-15 Would Be a Step Backwards
According to reports, the Trump Administration is set to announce a new policy intended to boost use of E-15, an ethanol-blended gasoline.
Blog
Bricks and Wood Heaters Also Need Relief from Obama-era Overreach
Several of the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s most expensive and far-reaching Clean Air Act regulations are back in the news now that the Trump administration is…
Blog
Coal Plant Developers Still Building, Investing Despite Paris Agreement
“Since the Paris Climate Agreement was negotiated in December 2015, the world’s installed coal-fired capacity grew by 92,000 MW—an increase equal to the combined operating…
Blog
Five Western States Will Vote on Energy Questions on November Ballots
Five western states have initiatives or referendums on energy issues. They include increasing renewable energy mandates, instituting a carbon tax, restricting oil and gas production,…
Blog
‘Energy Independence’ Hawks Caricature Trump Auto Rule
Securing America’s Energy Future (SAFE), a pro-regulatory “energy independence” advocacy group, this week released “The Military Cost of Defending Global Oil Supplies.” The report…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Urge Congress to Eliminate, Not Expand, Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
In a joint letter released this week, thirty free market groups urged House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to oppose “any effort to expand…
Blog
California’s Gov. Brown Issues Carbon Neutrality Order, Signs Renewable Energy Bill
California Governor Jerry Brown (D) on September 10th issued Executive Order B-55-18 establishing a statewide goal to “achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible, and…
Blog
Ninth Circuit Opens Pandora’s Box in Oregon Fuel Standards Case
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld Oregon’s Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), dismissing a lawsuit filed by U.S. refiners, truckers,…
Forbes
Billionaire Mega-Donor Tom Steyer Picks Favorite AG Hopefuls; More Global Warming Cases Possible
Forbes cited CEI’s report by Senior Fellow Christopher C. Horner, “Government for Rent.” A recent report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Government for Rent: Exposing Climate Politics in Governors’ Offices
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute has released my colleague Chris Horner’s new study on how special interests have been buying influence in governors’ offices, “…
Blog
Energy Dominance: Department of Interior Breaks Previous Records for Oil and Gas Lease Sales
“In a testament to the Trump Administration's America First Energy Plan, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) third-quarter oil and gas lease sale in New…
Blog
EPA Proposes Rule To Replace ‘Clean Power’ Plan
The Environmental Protection Agency on August 21st released its proposed rule to replace the “Clean Power” Plan (CPP). The rule, which is called the …
Blog
Department of Energy Proposes ending Obama-era Rules on Incandescent Light Bulbs
Energy and Environment News reported Wednesday that the Trump Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing back against two last-minute Obama regulations that would expand…
Blog
Trump Revision of Obama-era Fuel Economy Rules Is No Climate Disaster
In a recent article in Energy and Environment News, several prominent climate scientists bash the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of the Obama administration’s…
Blog
Carbon Taxers in Full Retreat in Canada
New Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on August 2nd his government was filing suit in Ontario’s Court of Appeal challenging the Canadian federal government’s…
Blog
Massachusetts Passes Scaled-Down Green Energy Bill
A massive green energy and climate bill passed by the Massachusetts Senate was scaled back considerably in negotiations with the House before being passed…
Blog
Mileage Rule for New Cars Everything Free Marketers Hoped
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on August 2nd proposed to revise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and…
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