While some improvements has been made nationally in both air pollution and water cleanliness, both laws have resulted in the most complex, comprehensive, and costly environmental laws in existence.
Additionally, environmental improvements in both areas began to improve prior to the 1970s when both laws were enacted. Through pragmatic regulatory reform of both laws, the Competitive Enterprise believes Americans can have clean water and improved air quality without submitting to undue regulations that strangle industry and harm our economy.
Featured Posts
Blog
EPA won’t rush ozone decision. Good. Now do the same for particulate matter.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put an end to the possibility that it would soon revise the existing ozone standards. This was…
Blog
Elephant in the elevator: How government manipulates the social cost of carbon to justify regulations
Four CEI colleagues and I each submitted comments this month on the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed update of Circular A-4—OMB’s…
Blog
Supreme Court ruling restores property rights, closes spigot on Clean Water Act abuses
The U.S. Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA has finally provided some clarity on one of the most basic questions in environmental law: what…
Search Posts
Blog
EPA won’t rush ozone decision. Good. Now do the same for particulate matter.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put an end to the possibility that it would soon revise the existing ozone standards. This was…
Comment
CEI Comments on the EPA’s CO2 Powerplant Emission Performance Standards
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards and guidelines for new and existing…
Blog
Elephant in the elevator: How government manipulates the social cost of carbon to justify regulations
Four CEI colleagues and I each submitted comments this month on the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed update of Circular A-4—OMB’s…
Blog
Supreme Court ruling restores property rights, closes spigot on Clean Water Act abuses
The U.S. Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA has finally provided some clarity on one of the most basic questions in environmental law: what…
News Release
Supreme Court Protects Property Rights from Federal Overreach in Sackett v. EPA Decision
The Supreme Court today ruled in favor of the Sackett family in a property rights dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA claimed…
Blog
Skepticism about EPA’s PM2.5 Rule Is Healthy
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed to tighten the annual national ambient air quality standard for fine particulate matter. My colleague Daren Bakst…
News Release
Biden Veto of Bipartisan Congressional Resolution to Withdraw WOTUS Rule Highlights Administration’s Environmental Extremism
President Joe Biden vetoed a bipartisan resolution passed by Congress under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would have rescinded EPA and the U.S.
Blog
The EPA’s Premature Proposal on Particulate Matter: Highlights from CEI’s Comment to the EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is jumping the gun by reconsidering the existing particulate matter (PM) air quality standards.Under the Clean Air Act, the…
News Release
Bipartisan Majority of U.S. Senate Rejects Biden Administration Overreach on Waters of the US Rule
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution under the Congressional Review Act rejecting the Biden Administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The rule would…
Comment
CEI Comments on EPA’s Reconsideration of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)
Dear Dr. Perlmutt,We appreciate the opportunity to submit this comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule entitled “Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air…
Blog
Senators Should Reject WOTUS Overreach
The Senate is soon expected to consider legislation that would reject the Biden administration’s final rule defining “Waters of the United States,” otherwise…
News Release
CEI and Other Litigants File Brief Challenging Agency Authority to Regulate Emissions
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and other litigants involved in Texas v. EPA recently filed an opening brief with the D.C. Circuit Court…
Real Clear Policy
Bureaucracy Isn’t the Answer to Ocean Pollution
The existence of plastic waste in the world’s oceans has raised reasonable concerns about the impact on wildlife and the environment. But rather than develop…
Study
Why Carbon Taxes Are Anti-Growth, Anti-Consumer, and Politically Dangerous for Conservatives
A tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, contrary to its advocates’ claims, is a market-rigging policy, not a free market one. Its purpose is to…
News Release
New CEI Paper Highlights Facts about Plastics in the Ocean an Offers Workable Solutions to the Problem
WASHINGTON – In a new paper released today, Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) senior fellow Angela Logomasini, PhD argues legislation pending before Congress…
Study
Ban Overboard: Exploring Solutions to Ocean Pollution
Heartbreaking photos and videos of wildlife harmed by plastics litter have rightly raised public concerns about plastics in the ocean. In response, state and local…
Blog
How Private Property Can Protect Rivers From Pollution
Many prominent environmental activists, such as teen media star Greta Thunberg and former Vice President Al Gore, raise various environmental concerns from climate change…
Blog
Will EPA Establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Greenhouse Gases?
Will the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) propose to establish national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs)? The…
News Release
EPA Administrator Wheeler Unveils Final Science Transparency Rule During CEI Forum
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler unveiled the agency’s final rule on strengthening transparency in pivotal science this morning during a policy…
Blog
Washington Post Trashes EPA Benefit Cost Analysis Rule
The Washington Post last week published an inaccurate and misleading analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently finalized benefit-cost analysis (BCA) rule…
Blog
New York Times Trashes EPA’s Particulate Matter Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday, December 7, finalized its national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) rule for particulate matter (PM). Controversy swirls…
Blog
NHTSA’s Consistent Understanding that California’s Tailpipe GHG Standards Are Unlawful
October 27 is the deadline for submitting final legal briefs to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Union of Concerned Scientists v. National Highway…
Blog
EPA Encourages Innovation, Levels Playing Field for Sources Reducing Hazardous Air Emissions
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on October 1 finalized a rule to implement the clear language of Section 112 of the…
Blog
Closing the Loop on Sea Level Rise
Sea level rise is potentially the most important consequence of manmade climate change. The global mean sea level has been rising since the great continental ice-age…
Blog
CEI Submits Comment Letter in Support of EPA’s Benefit-Cost Analysis Rule
The comment period closed this week on the Environmental Protection Agency’s benefit-cost analysis (BCA) rulemaking. Under the proposal, all economically significant Clean Air Act regulations…
Blog
Criteria Pollutant Emissions and Precursors Decline 7 Percent Under Trump
The EPA today released its annual report on air quality, tracking the nation’s progress through 2019. The EPA reports that under President Trump (2017-2019), combined…
Blog
EPA Finalizes Rule Limiting State Abuses of Clean Water Act to Block Fossil Energy Projects
On June 1, the EPA issued a final rule clarifying that the Clean Water Act cannot be used by states to block energy projects based…
Blog
Wood Heaters—One Cheer for Trump EPA’s Modest Regulatory Reform
The Trump administration’s reforms of past regulatory excesses range from excellent to little better than no change at all. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)…
Blog
Harvard Junk Science Study Claims High Pollution Levels Increase Deaths from COVID-19
Researchers at Harvard University in late April published a draft or preliminary study that concluded, “A small increase in long-term exposure to PM2.5 leads to…
Blog
SAFE Rule Examined Part 2: Air Quality and Auto Safety
Today’s post examines the Final Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule’s estimated impacts on air quality and auto safety. Citations to the rule are…
Blog
EPA Proposes to Retain Current Standards for Particulate Matter
The EPA proposed to retain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter established in 2012. Environmental groups predictably condemned the proposal. However,…
Blog
Trump Can’t Do Much About Toilets, But Can Stop Other Anti-Homeowner Regulations
President Trump created more controversy than usual last week when he complained about water-saving faucets, shower heads, and—especially—toilets. “You turn on the faucet and you…
Blog
Stop State Government Abuse of Clean Water Act
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute led a coalition letter in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule, “Updating Regulations on Water Quality Certification.” The rule would…
National Review
A Shale-Gas Revolution, If We Can Keep It
Living conditions in the early Industrial Revolution were often atrocious, and Marx and Engels thought they saw a trend. They predicted in Capital that as capitalism evolved,…
Blog
Environmental Protection Agency to California: Clean up Your Act
In two separate actions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week put California on notice that the state is violating federal air and water…
Blog
New Rule to Limit State Government Abuse of Clean Water Act for Climate Activism
Making good on a promise made in an April 10th Executive Order entitled Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule restricting…
The Washington Examiner
Climate Hawk Republicans Are Wrong to Look to Carbon Tax as Green New Deal Alternative
The Washington Examiner cites CEI’s recent carbon tax video. The Competitive Enterprise Institute has produced a video that describes how the costs of a carbon…
Blog
EPA Streamlines Infrastructure Approval Process under Clean Water Act
Making good on its promise in Executive Order 13868 to combat the abuse of section 401 of the Clean Water Act by states seeking to block…
Blog
EPA Mercury Rule an Inappropriate Exercise of Regulatory Power
On Wednesday, I submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to rescind its justification for the 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.
Comment
CEI Joins Pacific Legal Foundation Comments on EPA/Army Corps 2019 Proposed Regulation Defining “Navigable Waters” under the Clean Water Act
Pacific Legal Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, and Washington Cattlemen’s Association are pleased to submit the following comments on the EPA and the…
Blog
Administration Takes on Anti-Infrastructure Misuse of Clean Water Act
President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order on April 10th that is intended to limit the misuse of the Clean Water Act of 1972…
Blog
Trump Administration Trying to Please Everyone on Renewable Fuel Standard
In trying to please both the supporters and the critics of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the Trump administration may end up pleasing neither. …
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
Maryland’s Nanny State Targets Foam Cups and Containers
Maryland consumers may soon be deprived of one of my favorite products: plastic foam coffee cups. The Maryland House of Delegates has already passed a…
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
EPA Finally Initiates Air Quality Assessment of Renewable Fuel Standard
The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that it is taking comment on the air quality impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and will complete a study…
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
Environmental Protection Agency Proposes Changes to Mercury Air Rule
On December 28th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to rescind the Obama EPA’s justification for its 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule. MATS…
Blog
VIDEO: What Qualifies as a ‘Water’ of the United States?
Our friends at the Regulatory Transparency Project have created a great new video to help explain the legal impact of the Clean Water Act and…
Blog
EPA Takes on Costly, Unnecessary Wood Heater Regulations
The Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency cranked out so many bad major rules that it was hard to pay attention to all the also-bad, but relatively…
Staff & Scholars
Myron Ebell
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Ben Lieberman
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Angela Logomasini
Adjunct Fellow
- Chemical Risk
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy and Environment
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government