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 Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which would have increased consumer electricity prices without having any discernible effects on climate change. CEI’s research and policy proposals were instrumental in President Trump’s repeal of the CPP.
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…
News Release
House Poised to Vote on Legislation to Reverse Biden’s Attacks on Oil and Gas Lease Sales
The House is expected to vote this week on legislation to reverse the Biden administration’s cancellation of oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife…
Blog
Why policymakers should reject the PROVE IT Act: It’s a pro-tax, anti-energy bill
The PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) requires the collection and regular updating of the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. It establishes the…
Search Posts
Blog
Congress Should Eliminate SEC Rule that Discloses Company Information to Foreign Governments
Congress should pass a joint resolution of disapproval and block the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule relating to ‘‘Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers.”…
Blog
Congress Should Eliminate Obama’s Stream Protection Rule
Congress should eliminate the Department of Interior’s harmful Stream Protection Rule. …
Blog
White House Should Revisit Volkswagen Settlement with EPA
A coalition of free-market groups ask President Trump to investigate the VW emissions settlement with the EPA.
Blog
Senate Should Disregard Spurious Public Health Charges against EPA Nominee Pruitt
The Senate should disregard accusations that EPA Administrator-designate Scott Pruitt is somehow responsible for asthma rates in his home state of Oklahoma.
Blog
Trump Reverses Obama Rejection of Keystone XL Pipeline
President Trump today signed executive orders aimed at reviving the Keystone XL Pipeline and rescuing the Dakota Access Pipeline from death by regulatory delay.
Blog
Pruitt Cool under Fire at Senate Confirmation Hearing
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Scott Pruitt to be Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Blog
Chamber of Commerce CEO Lays Out 2017 Agenda
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue gave his annual “State of American Business Address” to a packed hall at the Chamber’s H…
Blog
Scrutinizing Sen. Carper’s Questions for EPA Nominee Pruitt
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) is unwilling to hold a confirmation hearing on President-elect Trump’s choice for Environmental Protection Agency administrator until the nominee, Oklahoma Attorney…
Blog
Questions Senators Should Ask Rex Tillerson
Tillerson is probably the only influential person President-elect Trump would ever nominate as Secretary of State who supports both a carbon tax and the Paris…
Blog
Activist Criticism Again Misses Mark on EPA Nominee Pruitt
It’s implausible to argue that Pruitt’s past acceptance of PAC donations are “unprecedented” for someone overseeing the…
Blog
Environmental Litigation Strategies and Defenses for Trump Era
Environmental litigation groups like the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity will pursue three types of lawsuits over the…
Blog
New York Times Misleads on U.S.-China Renewable Energy Trade
The source of demand for Chinese renewable energy exports are countries, like the U.S. and Europe, that have mandated and subsidized green energy.
Blog
Energy & Environmental Policy News: Multimedia Roundup
Observations and analysis on recent energy and environment news by senior fellow William Yeatman.
Blog
EPA Region 6 Throws Bombs to the Bitter End
Among the Environmental Protection Agency's 10 offices, by far the most aggressive during the Obama administration has been Region 6, which operates out of Dallas…
Blog
Trump Administration Will Have Legal Authority to Halt Clean Power Plan
It would not be illegal for President Trump to order the Environmental Protection Agency not to enforce the Clean Power Plan.
Blog
Best of the Blog 2016
Certain topics were especially popular with readers in 2016.
Blog
NRDC Is Wrong: Trump Can Issue Day 1 Executive Order Declaring Clean Power Plan Illegal
The Clean Power Plan in its current form is illegal, and there is no problem with the President issuing an executive order to this effect…
Blog
Two Recommendations for EPA: 1) Revise, Don’t Repeal; 2) Do Your Job
There is a climate policy that’s even worse than EPA regulations written by Natural Resources Defense Council lobbyists: state torts for injunctive or monetary relief…
Blog
Obama Couldn’t Win a Third Term, Because He Would Have To Own His Global Warming Policy
I strongly doubt that President Obama would win a third term, as he claimed yesterday.
Blog
EPA’s Clean Power Plan Lies Undermine Congressional Oversight
Congress’s primary means of investigation are hearings and follow up questions, but these mechanisms are rendered meaningless when the agency lies.
Blog
Congress Must Combat Threats to Affordable Energy
Policy makers should reject policies to tax and regulate away mankind’s access to affordable energy.
Blog
Can Trump (or Congress) Rescind Obama’s Arctic Drilling Ban?
President Obama yesterday designated “the vast majority of U.S. waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas as indefinitely off limits to offshore oil and gas…
E&E News
In right’s energy-subsidy clash, shades of Koch vs. Pickens
National Review
Who is ‘Richard Windsor’?
In The Liberal War on on Transparency, published by Threshold Editions last month, I revealed the existence of a series of black, or “alias” email…
Blog
Can Congress Veto EPA’s Fuel Economy Rush Job?
The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent proposal to keep in place the agency’s model year greenhouse gas emission standards for new motor vehicles is the epitome…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Political Disasters in Science and Economics
This week on RealClear Radio Hour, Marc Edwards and Dan Liljenquist recount politically induced disasters from the perversion of science to the pension crisis.
Blog
Trump Picks Scott Pruitt to Head EPA
Yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The nomination is significant in several ways.
Blog
EPA Rushes to Lock in Obama Administration Fuel Economy Standards
The Environmental Protection Agency last Wednesday released its proposed Mid-Term Evaluation (MET) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for model year (MY) 2022-2025 passenger vehicles.
Blog
Drain the Swamp: Sunset the Renewable Fuel Standard
“Draining the swamp” includes abolishing the RFS.
Blog
Federal Biofuel Programs Headed for Failure
Today the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two reports on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
Blog
The New Congress Should Repeal All Energy Efficiency Mandates
As part of its new agenda for January, Congress should repeal every energy-efficiency mandate on the books, ranging from Corporate Average Fuel Economy…
Blog
Free Market Opportunities for the Trump Administration
This election has given us one more demonstration that knowledge is dispersed and “trusting the experts” to know the future is foolish. The unexpected success…
Blog
The Real Victim in the Dakota Access Pipeline Controversy Is the Company behind the Project
The real victims in the controversy over the Dakota Access Pipeline is Dakota Access Services, the company behind the 3.7 billion project that would move…
Blog
The “Voluntary” Component of EPA’s Clean Power Plan Makes It Even More Unlawful
Today I filed a comment letter on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule titled “Clean Energy Incentive Program Design Details.” The comment period closes today…
Blog
5 Scariest Halloween Regulations
Regulatory dark matter is a Washington boogeyman. In 2015, there were 39 regulations for every one law passed by Congress. That’s a lot of rules…
Blog
Global Warming Concerns ‘Not a Blank Check’ for Clean Power Plan
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last week released a 320-page transcript of the September 27th oral argument on EPA’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards…
Blog
Clean Power Plan Oral Argument: Will Limited Government Survive the Age of Global Warming?
It’s now 10 days since the D.C. Court of Appeals heard oral argument on EPA’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emission performance standards for existing fossil-fuel power…
Los Angeles Times
Why should only solar and wind get the tax credits? This industry wants in
Los Angeles Times discusses subsidies for the energy storage industry with William Yeatman. “We’re getting to a really tenuous connection,” said William Yeatman, senior…
Blog
Does Climate Change Cause an Additional 140,000 Deaths a Year?
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, environmental researcher Bjorn Lomborg calls on the next president to “get our priorities straight” on climate change. A…
Blog
Free Market Allies Challenge Legality of EPA’s Clean Energy Incentive Program
On behalf of policy analysts from 13 non-profit free-market organizations and seven independent scholars, I have submitted a joint comment letter…
Morning Consult
Do Noble Political Ends Justify Abusive Means?
The Morning Consult reports on the subpoena that CEI recieved from Attorney General Claude Walker. Starting in 2014, approximately 20 Democrat attorneys general,…
Blog
Issues to Watch in Next Week’s Clean Power Plan Oral Argument
Next week the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral argument on EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), which establishes first-ever carbon dioxide (CO2) emission…
Blog
Clean Power Plan Litigation: A Giant Ball of Uncertainties
Prognosticating judicial outcomes is a foolish endeavor in general, but trying to predict the fate of the Clean Power Plan in Article III courts is…
Washington Free Beacon
NY Attorney General Accused of Skirting Public Records Law
The Washington Free Beacon reports on CEI's lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from refusing to release documents related to the climate change investigations. …
Blog
New Study Finds Ethanol More Carbon Intensive than Gasoline
A University of Michigan study published in the journal Climatic Change challenges a fundamental assumption of the life cycle analyses underpinning the EPA’s Renewable Fuel…
Daily Caller
Britain’s Plan To Save Energy By Paying Businesses To Shut Down Falls Apart
The Daily Caller quotes Myron Ebell on Britain's gid operators' decision to pay for "negative electricity" when there isn't enough power to meet demand. …
U.S. News & World Report
SolarCity Announces Layoffs, Co-Founders Take Massive Salary Cuts
U.S. News & World Report discusses SolarCity's announcment of major layoffs with Myron Ebell. "It looks like its further confirmation, despite massive federal and…
Daily Caller
Wind Industry Furious That Wyoming Is Taxing Wind Turbines
The Daily Caller discusses Wyoming's plan to raise taxes on a wind power project with Myron Ebell. Construction on thePower Company of Wyoming’s…
Blog
Trump Presents Energy Policy Ideas in Detroit
In a policy speech yesterday in Detroit, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump outlined his program of tax, regulatory, and trade policies to jump-start the economy.
Blog
Olympic Ceremony an Example of Cheap Talk on Global Warming
“Doing something” about global warming is hard and requires economic sacrifice.
Blog
Does EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
A new University of Minnesota study finds that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) program leads to net increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Blog
EPA’s Missed Deadlines Causing Widespread Dysfunction
Yesterday I published a study that reviews EPA’s performance for more than 1,000 Clean Air Act deadlines. Here’s the big takeaway: the agency missed 84…
E&E News
Foes of climate rule find new weapon in EPA mine case
E&E News reports on CEI's arguments against the legality of the Enviornmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan. A federal court should take into…
Blog
Democrats’ Platform: Surmount Climate Challenge with Good-Paying Jobs, Low-Cost Clean Energy
The Democratic Party officially adopted their 2016 platform at their national convention in Philadelphia on 25th July. The energy and environment section is titled, “Combat…
Blog
Does Global Warming Policy Increase Summer Swelter?
Supporters of EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) claim the program “mitigates” anthropogenic global warming by substituting biofuels for petroleum products in the nation’s motor fuel…
Daily Caller
California Dem: Our Global Warming Plans Devastate The Poor
The Daily Caller speaks with Myron Ebell on California's lieutenant governor's statement that the state's climate policies will hurt the poor. “It’s nice to…
Washington Examiner
Dem AG Backs Down in Exxon Climate Fight
A group of Democratic attorneys general have suffered another blow in their bid to find oil-giant Exxon Mobil guilty of fraud in a highly-politicized climate…
News Release
CEI Response to Wyoming Fracking Ruling
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s William Yeatman responded today to the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming’s ruling striking down a Bureau of Land…
Blog
House to Vote on Carbon, Oil Taxes
The House is scheduled to vote Friday on two bills opposing efforts to rig U.S. energy markets against fossil fuels.
Blog
GIGO Strikes Again: EPA’s Social Cost of Methane
The Environmental Protection Agency’s final methane emission standards for new, modified, and reconstructed oil and gas sources were published in the Federal Register last Friday.
Blog
Affordable Energy Is Important to Conquering Poverty
When economists and politicians talk about income inequality, they rarely consider the effects of their policies on the poor, as my co-author Ryan Young has…
Blog
Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists: No Illusions about Germany’s “Energy Turnaround”
In a previous post I poked fun at the “Doomsday Clock” of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. For 60 years, the Bulletin has…
Blog
RICO 20 Ringleader’s Implausible Denial of Intent to Silence Skeptics
After a recent victory in a FOIA lawsuit, Horner and CEI v. GMU, a Richmond court allowed the Competitive Enterprise Institute to release records on…
Daily Caller
New Report Shows The Collapse Of Green Energy In Europe
The Daily Caller discusses subsidies of renewable energy projects with Myron Ebell. “Whenever subsidies or mandates are lowered, interrupted, or ended, then investment…
Blog
EPA Tries to Cover Its Tracks in Texas by Sending 17 Years of History Down the Memory Hole
Background: The Regional Haze rule is a Clean Air Act regulation whose purpose is to improve the view at National Parks. Because it is…
Daily Caller
VW Emissions Scandal Being Used To Push Obama’s Electric Vehicle Agenda
The Daily Caller discusses political pressure on Volkswagen with Myron Ebell. “Does Volkswagen have a future if political pressure is going to cost…
Heartland Institute
New Study Shows Renewable Energy May Always Need Government Support
The Heartland Institute discusses renewable energy sources inability to be competitive in the marketplace with Myron Ebell. Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy…
Blog
Power Plant Rule: EPA Defies Stay to Develop Legally Dubious Incentive Program
The EPA yesterday took another step to advance the Obama administration’s flagship domestic climate policy, the so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP). As Politico…
Blog
Wind Energy Industry Suffers Fuel Shortage in 2015
Wind energy can’t compete. Instead, it exists only by the grace of favorable politics. On the supply side, the industry enjoys the federal production tax…
Blog
The Treaty Not to Be Called a Treaty
The recent Paris Climate Agreement is clearly a treaty, but like the fable of the emperor’s new clothes, few people are willing to incur…
Breitbart
Lawfare: Left-Wing U.S. Attorneys General Wage Legal Blitzkrieg on Science, Freedom and truth
Breitbart discusses the subpoena sent to CEI as part of the attorneys general intimidation campaign to silence the climate change debate. Now the Attorney…
Blog
CEI Will Surmount Crimethink Persecution
Feisty, aggressive, unwavering, and sometimes unconventional—all terms I heard prior to joining CEI last week as president. The descriptions were spot-on. But before the first conversations ended,…
Blog
Our Take: The Climate-Related Subpoena
Since CEI was subpoenaed on April 8 for a decade’s worth of work from 20 years ago, many have asked “Why?” and “How?” Here is…
Blog
What Others Are Saying about CEI’s Climate Change Subpoena
Since CEI was subpoenaed by the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands on April 8, 2016, for energy and climate work from 20 years…
Blog
Haiku: “No Energy Left”
Inspired by SunEdison’s near bankruptcy (among other terrible news for the solar power industry) and infused with the spirit of Japanese culture…
Blog
House Energy and Environment Notes
Both chambers of Congress are in recess now, but there were some goings-on in the House last Wednesday that merit mention. The first was EPA…
Blog
Senators Urge EPA to Burst RFS Blend Wall
A bipartisan group of 19 Senators led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is urging EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to get the Renewable…
Daily Caller
MIT: Green Energy Can’t Work Unless You Tax Everything
The Daily Caller reports discusses renewable energy with Myron Ebell and William Yeatman. “Windmills, solar panels, and ethanol could not compete with coal,…
Blog
Is EPA Trying to Centrally Plan the Auto Sector (in Addition to the Electric Sector)?
With the Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s marquee climate policy, the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to run the electricity sector. Of course, the agency…
Blog
News Cycle Contradicts Green Energy Revolution
Last Thursday, The Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Bennet and Christina Rogers reported that auto dealers “are telling auto makers to limit production of passenger cars in…
Blog
A Banner Day for Rule of Law, Constitution, and Common Sense
In an unexpected and unprecedented decision, the Supreme Court last evening granted an application by more than two dozen states to stay implementation of the…
Blog
In Defending Clean Power Plan before the Supreme Court, EPA/DOJ Misrepresent Clean Air Act with Lame Editing Tricks
Lawyers for the EPA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are trying to pull a fast one on the Supreme Court. Through creative formatting, they…
Blog
Don’t Put Eco-Finance Measures in Energy Bill
Cronyism and boondoggles in an energy bill is nothing new in the U.S. Congress. But this week, senators of both parties are taking the process…
Blog
In FERC Ruling, Supreme Court Announces Dangerous New “No Man’s Land” Principle
On January 26, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the federal government in a high profile case, FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association. Media…
Blog
Is Any Component of Obama’s Energy Policy Not Shrouded in Obfuscation?
Last week, Bloomberg News’s Toluse Olorunnipa tweeted from a Detroit auto show that President Obama “slammed” Republicans for having predicted high gas prices during his administration. …
New York Times
Supreme Court Upholds Efforts on Managing Electricity Use Through Pricing
The New York Times quotes Myron Ebell's statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling that federal regulators authority to issue demand response programs.
Daily Caller
Supreme Court Allows ‘Socialized Electricity’ To Make Green Energy Profitable
The Daily Caller quotes Myron Ebell's statement in response to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold federal agencies ability to artificially make green energy more…
Blog
Coalition Submits Comments to EPA on Proposed Clean Power Plan Model FIP
Today, January 21, 2016, is the final day for submission of comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) notice of proposed rulemaking concerning a Model Federal…
Blog
SOTU Response: Fisking O’s Climate Spiel
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You’ll be pretty lonely, because you’ll be debating…
News Release
CEI Takes the EPA’s Clean Power Plan to Court to Protect State Rights
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its Clean Power Plan in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…
Coal Blog
EPA’s Clean Power Plan Does Not Deserve Judicial Respect
On August 3rd, President Obama announced his administration’s signature global warming policy, known as the Clean Power Plan. In the simplest of terms, the Clean…
Watchdog.org
Solyndra times five: What’s up with the $2.65 billion in federal loans to Abengoa?
Watchdog.org discusses with William Yeatman the potential for energy giant Abengo to go bankrupt, and the impact of this on taxpayers. “Potentially, we’re looking at…
Washington Free Beacon
Green Energy Investors Look to Cash in on Paris Talks
The Washington Free Beacon reports on business investors involvment in green energy and quotes William Yeatman's thoughts on the issue. William Yeatman, an energy…
Voice of America
Carbon Taxes, Cap-and-Trade Getting Another Look in US
Voice of America reports on the carbon tax and speaks with Marlo Lewis on the effect such a tax would have. Regardless of…
Blog
Fracking: The Gift Keeps Giving
“U.S. proved crude oil reserves hit levels not seen since 1972, surpassing 39 billion barrels in 2014, according to newly released federal data,” Michael Bastasch…
Blog
Who’s Playing Politics on the Keystone XL Pipeline?
“The White House on Tuesday said President Obama had no intention of bowing to a request from the company behind the Keystone XL oil pipeline…
Daily Caller
Inside The Supreme Court Case That Could Change How America Gets Its Power
The Daily Caller interviews William Yeatman on the Supreme Court case which is determining the legality of a policy that promotes "demand-side management" of green energy services.
Daily Signal
Solyndra Redux: Another Green Company May Lose Taxpayers Millions
The Daily Signal references CEI's expert William Yeatman for more information about the threat of renewable energy companies when paid through government subsidies.
Blog
“Losing Our Minds” over Green Energy
Eco-theocracy has swept America and Europe, resulting in governments devoting vast sums to build their Green Temples where “renewable energy” and “recycled materials” can be…
California Watchdog.org
SunEdison: A cloudy Picture For Another Renewable Energy Compnay
Californina Watchdog.org cites CEI's expert William Yeatman on government stimulus dollars spent in aid of renewable energy companies. “Government has no business picking winners 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
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government