Since our founding in 1984, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has sought to reform and reduce environmental regulation of land, shrink the federal estate, and unlock federal lands for private ownership.
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Study
Empire State of Mind
Executive Summary New York State’s environmental permitting procedures represent a mixed bag. On the one hand, the Uniform Procedures Act (UPA), signed into law in…
USDA
USDA COULD BE IMPACTED BY PROJECT 2025
USDA cites Daren Bakst on Project 2025: The chapter, written by former Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Policy and Regulation, Center for Energy, Climate…
Investigate Midwest
Farm programs, USDA would shrink under Project 2025 goals for ag
Investigate Midwest cites Daren Bakst on Project 2025: So, what about the author? Daren Bakst wrote the agriculture chapter in Project 2025. He is now…
Search Posts
Comment
Letter to EPA Administrator Wheeler on Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment
Letter in PDF March 20, 2019 Andrew Wheeler Administrator United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Re: Request for…
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…
Stateline
Logging, Money Battles Delay Wildfire Prevention Work
Pew Trusts cited Distinguished Fellow RJ Smith on U.S. Forest Service funding: Some conservative experts disagree that funding is a major problem for federal…
Products
Free to Prosper: Private and Public Lands
View the full chapter on private and public lands here Private property and secure property rights are essential conditions of freedom and prosperity. Contrary…
Blog
Supreme Court Ruling Puts Important Limits on Federal Authority under Endangered Species Act
On November 27, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously, in Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that there are limits to how far the federal…
Blog
CEI Challenges Federal Rejection of Alaska’s Pebble Mine
Most job-creating projects don’t require government subsidies―the only thing private sector builders need is less federal red tape getting in their way. A good case…
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
How to Articulate a Free-Market Vision for the Future
The Competitive Enterprise Institute views most market failure rationales for government intervention as wrong, overstated, or unproven (or all of the above). The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Comment
CEI Comments on Revision of the Regulations for Listing Species and Designating Critical Habitat
The Endangered Species Act has proven bad for wildlife because it is bad for people. The Act’s legislative language as passed by Congress is largely…
Comment
CEI Comments on ESA Proposed Revisions of the Regulations for Prohibitions to Threatened Wildlife and Plants
The Endangered Species Act has proven bad for wildlife because it is bad for people. The Act’s legislative language as passed by Congress is largely…
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…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Environmental Protection Agency Veto Power over Development Projects
In 2013, organizations from coast-to-coast called on then-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to reject an unprecedented decision on Pebble Mine and warned…
Blog
Reform Federal Process for Environmental Permits
The Trump administration has initiated several steps to streamline the federal permitting process for major projects, including resource extraction and infrastructure. In particular, it has focused…
Blog
Reform Endangered Species Act to Contain Costs
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973, has had several decades to accumulate a record of costs and benefits. Despite bureaucrats and activists…
Blog
Claim that 99% of Species Are Saved by ESA Not Supported by Data
An urgent fundraising appeal from The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) “Global Policy Lead[er]” warns of congressional and administration efforts to change—and from the perspective of many—improve…
The Hill
Wildlife has little to show for staggering cost of Endangered Species Act
The Department of the Interior recently proposed significant changes to the rules implementing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). As welcome as these changes…
Blog
Four Reasons the Endangered Species Act Desperately Needs Reform
The Department of Interior recently announced proposed revisions to enforcement of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These revisions are designed to lessen the regulatory…
Los Angeles Times
Threatened Species Could Lose Habitat Protections Under Department of the Interior Proposal
The Los Angeles Times cited CEI’s Rob Gordon on the Endangered Species Act. Rob Gordon, a spokesman for the free market think tank Competitive…
News Release
CEI Praises Dept of Interior’s Proposed Changes to Endangered Species Act Regulations
This week, the Department of Interior announced proposed revisions to portions of the regulations that implement sections of the Endangered Species Act.
News Release
CEI Applauds President Trump’s Pardon of Dwight and Steve Hammond
Today, President Trump announced the pardon of Dwight and Steve Hammond, two ranchers from Eastern Oregon who were prosecuted under the Antiterrorism Act of 1996…
Blog
Reforming ‘Waters of the United States’ Critical for Economic Growth
The Waters of the United States rule vastly expanded government control over land in America and is one of the prime examples of the…
Comment
Testimony of Myron Ebell on The Enhancing State Management of Federal Lands and Waters Act
View Full Document as PDF Chairman Gosar, Ranking Member Lowenthal, and members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to testify today…
4-traders
More than 50 Members, Stakeholders Call on Admin to Scrap Obama Mineral Withdrawals
4-traders cited the work of the Competitive Enterprise Institute in pressing reviews of Obama-era mineral withdrawals which were implemented without due consideration for the local…
The Hill
‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Is Back in Trump Era
The Department of the Interior on Jan. 4 released the draft of an Outer Continental Shelf oil and natural gas leasing plan that would dramatically…
Blog
Department of Interior Announces Ambitious New Offshore Oil Plan
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has announced an ambitious new oil and gas leasing plan for the federal Outer Continental Shelf.
The Daily Caller
With the Stroke of a Pen, Trump Claims Victory in the Decades-Long Battle Over ANWR
The Daily Caller covers the ANWR provision of the tax reform bill. President Donald Trump signed tax reform legislation that also ends the battle…
Blog
A Banner Year for Deregulation on Energy, Climate, and Environment
2017 has been a banner year for advancing free market policies across the board on energy, climate, and environmental issues.
Blog
President Trump Should Defend Federal Land Use and End Abuse of Antiquities Act
Misuse of the Antiquities Act by radical environmental pressure groups and compliant presidents circumvents the constitutional authority of Congress…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Supporting Review of National Monuments Under the Antiquities Act
View Full Document as PDF Dear Mr. President, As leaders of grassroots, legal, and public policy organizations throughout the United States, we…
Blog
Former U.K. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson Outlines the Environmental Benefits of Brexit
On October 4, 2017, Owen Paterson MP, who until 2014 was the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, visited…
Blog
Common Sense Trumps Absurd Bottled Water Ban
Cheers to the Trump Administration for taking this common sense stand on bottled water in national parks.
Blog
New Film ‘Food Evolution’ Confronts Confusion on GMO Crops
Genetic modification of food crops is a valuable scientific process that has already helped feed countless millions of people around the world and provided breathtaking humanitarian…
Blog
Smart Move to Repeal Department of Interior ‘Valuation Rule’ on Minerals
The repeal ensures that coal leasing and sales can continue while the agency develops and adopts a new rule informed by public comment.
News Release
CEI Supports Reducing Federal Lands for National Monuments, Returning Lands to Private Ownership
Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Energy and Environment, responded to the Interior Department’s assessment of the use of federal land as…
Blog
NYT Pesticide Exposé Only Exposes Foolish Reporting
EPA decision not to ban chlorpyrifos was based on sound science.
Blog
Environmental Activists Continue to ‘Bee’ Wrong about Honeybee Health Challenges
Lawmakers need to start ignoring the environmentalist hype and let bee keepers continue to resolve environmental health challenges.
Blog
New Study Shows Minimal Pesticide Impact on Bees
95 percent of the time there were no detectable levels of neonics in hives or pollen from. This indicates a very minimal exposures, which should…
News Release
CEI Praises EPA Decision to Repeal Disastrous Waters of the U.S. Rule
This week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved to repeal the Obama administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. This rule expanded federal oversight…
Blog
Trump Issues Executive Order on ‘America-First Offshore Energy Strategy’
President Trump issued an executive order on Friday directing the Departments of Interior and Commerce to “encourage energy innovation, exploration, and production” in U.S. offshore areas including…
Blog
An Overdue Review of the Antiquated Antiquities Act
Kudos to President Trump for signing the Antiquities Act executive order today directing Interior Secretary Zinke to undertake the long overdue review of the misuses and…
News Release
CEI Applauds Trump Executive Order To Counter Massive Land Grabs
President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands. The…
Blog
Free the Fishermen: Cause of Action Defends Small Business at Sea
Cause of Action is defending New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel, and others like him, from extraordinarily expensive government regulations.
Blog
Struggling Fishermen Sue over Cost of Harvest Monitoring
It can be difficult to make one’s living off of the land – or the sea – these days. Federal and state regulations on natural resource…
Blog
Endangered Species Bee Listing Could Harm Bees, Butterflies, other Pollinators
In the interest of both pollinators and landowners, the incoming Trump Administration needs to advocate and pass serious reforms to the Endangered Species Act.
Blog
Obama’s National Monument Designation: Second-Term Environmental Policymaking at Its Worst
It is outrageous that President Obama, on the way out the door, would try to irrevocably federalize 1.3 million acres in the state, in spite…
Blog
Property Rights Are the Key to Protecting Land
We often hear that only government can protect the environment through outright land ownership or heavy regulatory control of private land.
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…
Washington Post
Feds not Needed
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…
Staff & Scholars
Daren Bakst
Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow
- Energy and Environment
- Lands and Wildlife
- Property Rights
Angela Logomasini
Adjunct Fellow
- Chemical Risk
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy and Environment
Patricia Patnode
Research Fellow
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government