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
News Release
EPA tailpipe rule an abuse of power, consumer freedom
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released its final rule on vehicle tailpipe emissions, which mirrors the proposed rule on the expected percentage of…
Blog
Spending bills fail to provide checks on Biden’s energy and environmental abuses
Over the weekend, House and Senate appropriations released the text of six final fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending bills: Energy and Water, Agriculture, Military…
Blog
EPA’s Scientific Integrity Policy is unscientific, lacks integrity
The Environmental Protection Agency recently released a draft update to its “Scientific Integrity Policy,” which aims to ensure the agency’s science-based decisions and…
Search Posts
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…
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…
News Release
EPA’s New Proposed Rule on Emissions for Coal Plants Will Safeguard Affordable Energy for Consumers
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new proposed rule, rescinding the Obama Administration’s carbon dioxide emission standards for new coal power plants.
News Release
CEI Expert Says EU Proposal to Ban Single-Use Consumer Plastic Items “Won’t Help the Environment”
On Wednesday, the European Union put forward a proposal to ban ten single-use plastic items, including straws and cotton swabs, by 2021. The proposal is…
CNS News
Vehicle Tailpipe Emissions Are SAFE
The Trump administration has proposed to freeze Obama-era fuel economy standards at 2020 levels to save lives and money. Opponents want to bring the proposed…
Blog
Is Particulate Matter Air Pollution as Dangerous as Cancer?
Yesterday the Competitive Enterprise Institute published Steve Milloy’s new policy brief on the impact of revised federal rules for auto mileage and emissions, “Will the Trump…
News Release
Report – Tailpipe Emissions Are SAFE: Trump Fuel Economy Reform Will Not Cause Air Pollution Deaths
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report debunks false claims that the Trump administration plan to scale back government fuel efficiency mandates poses an offsetting risk…
Study
Will the Trump Fuel Economy Reform Proposal Create Deadly Air Pollution?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have proposed to partially roll back the corporate average fuel economy…
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
Three States Join California in Raising Air Conditioning, Refrigeration Costs
Maryland, New York, and Connecticut are following California’s lead in proposing restrictions on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the class of refrigerants widely used…
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
New York State’s Proposed Plastic Bag Ban: Assaulting an American Dream
I recently wrote a blog post about entrepreneur Eli Amsel, who reached out to me about how nanny state regulators and lawmakers have waged war…
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
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…
Suburban Newspapers Inc.
Another Climate Change Concern: Soil May Be Belching Carbon
Suburban Newspapers Inc. cited Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis Jr. on carbon pollution. In a blog post last year, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which…
Blog
Will Trump Auto Rule End California’s Regulation of Fuel Economy?
The Trump administration is expected tomorrow to release its proposed revisions of the Obama administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and motor vehicle greenhouse…
News Channel 8
Plastic Straw Ban: Will this Decision Help Our Environment?
News Channel 8 cited CEI’s Angela Logomasini on the plastic straw ban. This week we’ve reported on the new decision companies like Starbucks…
Reason
Plastic Straw Myths
Reason’s John Stossel cited Angela Logomasini on banning plastic straws. Angela Logomasini, a senior fellow at Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Tate that “the…
The Washington Times
Plastic Straw Bans Won’t Save Oceans: ‘We’re Trading a Lot for Nothing’
The Washington Times cited CEI’s Angela Logomasini on Starbucks’ recent plastic straw ban. “It’s a symbolic effort that isn’t going to help anything,”…
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…
Inside Sources
Counterpoint: Plastic Bans Won’t Solve Ocean Plastic Problem
Proposed “solutions” to mounting plastic waste in the ocean continue to border on the absurd — suggesting that banning straws, bags and other consumer products…
Blog
Misfiring on All Cylinders: New York Times’ Attack on Pruitt’s Fuel Economy Reset
Greenhouse gas/fuel economy standards encourage automakers to reduce average vehicle size and weight. That is hardly surprising. It takes less fuel to move smaller, lighter…
Blog
Liberate Dishwashers from Federal Efficiency Mandates
Thirty-five years ago dishwashers cleaned dishes in about an hour. Sadly, today there are no dishwashers that do so due to federal government regulations. This…
Blog
Everything You Need to Know about the Clean Power Plan
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, nineteen other state attorneys general, and the head of the Mississippi department of environmental quality recently filed a superb …
Blog
Clean Power Plan: Just Repeal, Don’t Replace
The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of repealing President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the principal regulatory component of his Paris Climate Treaty emission-reduction…
The Washington Examiner
What CEOs Still Want from Trump: A Deregulation Wishlist
The Washington Examiner discusses deregulation with Myron Ebell. America’s CEOs have a long wish list for the regulatory rollback President Trump has promised to…
The Washington Examiner
Anti-Climate Change Hawks Have a Bone to Pick with Trump, Too
The Washington Examiner discusses the endangerment finding with Myron Ebell. Climate change opponents are joining environmentalists in criticizing President Trump for not mentioning climate…
OneNewsNow
Manmade Pollutants Now Blamed for Global Cooling
OneNewsNow discusses a change in the rhetoric surrounding manmade pollutants with Chris Horner. The same “climate change” scientists and activists who have claimed for…
Bloomberg Politics
Trump Plays Down Health Hazard in Justifying Climate Rule Repeal
Bloomberg Politics quotes Myron Ebell on the importance of curbing Carbon Dioxide and how that should pose a greater priority to the Trump administration.
Blog
Debunking the ‘Race to the Bottom’ Theory of Regulatory Competition
Its success in policymaking notwithstanding, the "race to the bottom" theory has fared poorly with the passage of time.
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
Will Trump EPA Reconsider California Greenhouse Gas Waiver?
The Trump Justice Department will no longer use Clean Air Act enforcement penalties to provide multibillion-dollar subsidies for electric vehicle infrastructure.
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.
The Daily Caller
Trump’s EPA Chief Says Obama ‘Short-Shrifted’ the Proper Process to Regulate CO2
The Daily Caller covers statements made by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and a petition CEI filed with the EPA to reconsider the endangerment finding.
The Daily Caller
Pruitt Is Right To Withdraw Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan’
Tom Harris, in an op-ed for The Daily Caller cites an article by Marlo Lewis, Jr. regarding the Clean Power Plan. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator…
OneNewsNow
How Could EPA Avoid ‘Sue and Settle’ Problem?
OneNewsNow discusses the EPA’s “sue and settle” directive with Chris Horner. Lawsuits involving environmental groups and the EPA may not be going away, even…
Politico
New Challenge to Endangerment Finding
Politico’s Morning Energy covers a coalition letter, led by CEI, urging the EPA to review the “endangerment finding.” A group of 60 skeptics of…
The Daily Caller
Conservatives Renew Campaign to Invalidate a Key Pillar of Obama’s Global Warming Legacy
The Daily Caller covers our joint letter with the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) with 60 climate and health experts urging the EPA to reconsider…
Newsmax
EPA Proposes Clean Break with Dirty Energy Politics
Newsmax discusses the EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan with Marlo Lewis. Last week, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt issued…
The Washington Examiner
Repealing the Clean Power Plan Will Benefit All Americans
Although there is no shortage of policy reasons to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the plan also exceeds the legal authority delegated to the EPA…
The Washington Examiner
EPA Has ‘Plenty of Tools’ to Battle Climate Change Without Obama Regulations, Experts Say
The Washington Examiner discusses the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan with Myron Ebell. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt could…
The Guardian
Fightback Begins Over Trump’s ‘Illegal and Irresponsible’ Clean Power Repeal
The Guardian discusses the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan with Myron Ebell. The US is set for a fresh battle…
The Washington Free Beacon
Clean Power Plan Repeal Will Save $33 Billion in Compliance Costs
The Washington Free Beacon covers the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Repealing the Clean Power Plan will save $33 billion…
The Daily Caller
Despite EPA Actions, Obama’s Climate Agenda ‘Has Not Been Fully Dismantled Yet’
The Daily Caller discusses the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan with Myron Ebell. While Republicans and industry groups cheer the…
Breitbart
EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Proposes to Save $33 Billion with Repeal of Obama-Era Energy Plan
Breitbart covers the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed to repeal the agency’s…
Bloomberg Politics
Trump Plays Down Health Hazard in Making Climate Rule Repeal
Bloomberg Politics discusses the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. When President Barack Obama unveiled his plan to pare emissions from…
The Hill
Overnight Energy: EPA to Propose Clean Power Plan Repeal
The Hill covers the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt announced Monday that the formal proposal…
Staff & Scholars
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