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

News Release
CEI-led coalition urges Congress to end Green New Deal policies embedded in the Inflation Reduction Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sent a coalition letter to Congress urging lawmakers to make it a priority to get rid of the Inflation Reduction…

Blog
House should support the Protecting American Energy Production Act
This week the House of Representatives is expected to consider the Protecting American Energy Production Act (H.R. 26), which was introduced by Rep.
The Independent Institute
Wind and Solar Tax Credits are Destroying the Grid
Rising power demand is revealing the fatal flaw in the increasing penetration of wind and solar on the grid. It’s time to admit that enough…
Search Posts
Washington Examiner
Democrats and Republicans: Unite around abundance
Inflation may finally be starting to wane, but there is no clear end in sight to the economic turmoil that Americans have experienced for nearly…
Blog
It Isn’t Just Gas Stoves That Biden Regulators Dislike – EPA Adding Costly Red Tape To Air Conditioners
In response to a strong consumer backlash, Biden administration regulators now insist they are not considering a ban on natural gas stoves, at least…
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…
Governors' Wing & Solar Energy Coalition
One Republican stands between the far right and ESG
Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, called McHenry “a really good, free-market conservative” and…
News Release
CEI Commends House for Passing H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act today. The bill, sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers…
Fox News
Democrats, eco groups take aim at other home appliances amid gas stove debate
CEI’s Ben Lieberman is cited on Fox News the home appliance and gas stove debate: “There’s bad news for almost every room in the…
News Release
CEI Leads Coalition in Support of H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), joined by 13 conservative and free market-oriented organizations, sent a letter to Congress in support of H.R. 21,…
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,…
Real Clear Energy
Joe Biden’s Opposition to Natural Gas Hits Home
There’s no doubt that the Biden Administration is fully on board with the climate activist community’s war on the natural gas industry. From slow walking…
Daily Caller
Biden Admin’s Gas Stove Crusade Is Just A Preview Of What’s To Come
It was an amazing media 180. Just days after a wave of stories about the threat to asthmatic children from natural gas stoves and the…
E&E News
White House releases latest regulatory plans
The White House on Wednesday afternoon released its latest plans for rulemaking on energy, the environment and beyond. The fall Unified Agenda emerged…
The Boston Herald
Lieberman: Whales on losing side of wind energy
Environmentalists want to crack down on the Maine lobster industry in the name of protecting endangered whales, but they turn a blind eye to the…
Blog
CNN Cheers Proposed New Restrictions on Light Bulbs
CNN has some great news for American consumers—your choices in light bulbs are being reduced! The Department of Energy (DOE) will soon propose a new…
Real Clear Energy
The DOE’s Press Release on Federal Building Standards Is Inaccurate and Misleading Puffery
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released the pre-publication version of a proposed rule to “establish energy performance standards for the construction of new federal…
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.
Giving Ventures
PODCAST: CEI’s Kent Lassman Joins Giving Ventures
CEI President Kent Lassman joins Giving Ventures to discuss areas for energy policy reform. Click here to read more.
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Rejecting Building American Energy Security Act of 2022
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy: The undersigned organizations write to express our strong opposition to Senator Joe…
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
Gas Prices Are Lower than a Year Ago: What Does that Mean for Inflation?
Even with inflation near 40-year highs, gas prices are lower than a year ago, and not just in real, inflation-adjusted terms. They’re lower even…
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. 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. Weber
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…
Net Zero Watch
Video: Mario Loyola Joins Net Zero Watch to Discuss COP27
Senior Fellow Mario Loyola joined Net Zero Watch to discuss COP27 and international climate policy.
National Review
COP27 Cables: Cash, Promises, and Absurdity
As was the case for the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, I’m filing cables on the annual United Nations–led climate-change confab. This year, COP27,…
National Review
Conversations about Forced Scarcity, COP27 Finds Its Hero
The processes internal to the COP27 negotiations are far behind schedule to produce any consensus on tough issues such as reparations, but attendees found a…
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…
National Review
COP27 Cables: Reality Bites and the Gobbledygook of Nonbinding Goals
As was the case for the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, I’m filing cables on the annual United Nations–led climate-change confab. This year, COP27,…
Reason
Permitting Hell vs. Climate Hell at COP27
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Mario Loyola proceeded during the questions and answers session to elegantly puncture the sunny “stated policies” predictions of rapid renewable energy…
News Release
Biden Administration Proposes New Methane Rule that Will Harm Domestic Energy Production, Raise Prices
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed rule today mandating reductions in methane from fossil fuel production. President Biden announced the proposed rule during a…
Blog
Who’s Not Buying Electric Vehicles? Single Vehicle Households, for One
Proponents of electric vehicles (EVs) have little to say about the one-third of American households that own only a single car or truck. That isn’t…
Legal Brief
CEI et al. Opening Brief in CEI v. EPA
CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES Pursuant to Circuit Rule 28, petitioners American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, Competitive Enterprise …
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…
Reason
How Federal Energy Regulations Make Dishwashers Worse
Data compiled by D.C.’s Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) show that average cycle times rose from just over an hour when the…
National Review
Biden Regulators Are Coming for Your Furnace
The Biden administration is not known for its light-handed regulatory touch, and so we should not be surprised that its efforts have included unhelpful initiatives targeting …
Real Clear Energy
Expensive Energy a Core Feature 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…
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…
Comment
Comments to DOE: Energy Conservation Standards Program
Comments Submitted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Consumers’ Research, Center for the American Experiment, JunkScience.com, Project 21, Caesar Rodney Institute, Rio Grande Foundation, Committee for…
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…
Comment
Comments Regarding Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Furnaces
The undersigned free market and consumer organizations have a longstanding interest in bringing to light the deleterious consequences of federal regulations, which are often neglected…
Fox Business
Energy experts sound alarm on Europe’s energy crisis as ‘clear and present warning’ for America
A group of energy and environment experts are sounding the alarm on U.S. climate policy and pointing to Europe’s crisis as an example…
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…
News Release
CEI Welcomes Decision to Remove Manchin-Schumer Permitting Bill from the Continuing Resolution
The United States Senate voted to advance a continuing resolution without a permitting bill championed by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). After the text of the…
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…
News Release
Comprehensive Permitting Reform is Vital to Unleashing America’s Energy Abundance
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration and many environmental activists insist the United States and the rest of the world must transition to non-fossil fuel energy sources by…
Study
Unleashing America’s Energy Abundance
As a side deal to the Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to streamline infrastructure permitting.
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

Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government

Jacob Tomasulo
Policy Analyst
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment