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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The vital role of private conservation: A different perspective on Earth Day
Amidst the jubilation over government-led environmental initiatives on yet another Earth Day yesterday, it’s crucial to highlight a perspective too often overlooked: private conservation, rather…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Trademark fees and threatened sloths
A cargo ship struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman died at age 90.
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One way for government to improve air quality: Remove obstacles to prescribed fires
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule on particulate matter prematurely makes the primary annual standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) much…
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Obama Administration Rewards Corrupt Mortgage Giants, Punishes Productive Private Banks, Fleeces Taxpayers and Responsible Credit Cardholders
The Obama administration wants to increase taxes on productive banks that are self-supporting, while exempting the mortgage giants and other companies that got massive taxpayer…
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If we want elephants to die off, we only need to do what we’re doing
They can be saved, however. Dan Hannan in London talks about “privatising” the elephant (and watch the video): To us, elephants are…
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One cheer for Obama on nuclear energy
Obama has done something right concerning nuclear energy; credit where credit’s due. But he also did something very wrong, which we’ll get to. The president…
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O’Neill on the Sorry Heritage of “Overpopulation”
At Spiked Online, Brendan O’Neil dissects the absurdity of neo-Malthusians who seek to portray themselves as intellectual mavericks, by presenting “overpopulation” as the environmental…
Op-Eds
Use of Genetically Modified Alfalfa Unnecessarily Held Hostage
What’s the most sustainable way to grow the food we eat? If you think the answer is always local and organic, you may be…
Blog
New Federal Program Kills Jobs, While Costing Taxpayers Half a Billion Dollars
A federal biofuels program enacted in the name of fighting global warming and reducing dependence on foreign oil is instead killing jobs while perhaps…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
EPA Delivers Lump of Coal to Appalachia
If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, the Environmental Protection Agency would still investigate. This corny…
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Following the scientific method: an example
Experiments in science that don’t reinforce scientists’ hypotheses can be vitally important in understanding complex systems. Serious scientists don’t fudge the results or hide…
Newsletter
Suing NASA, Swine Flu Declines and Climategate Tricks
CEI announces a plan to sue NASA over violations of the Freedom of Information Act. The Centers for Disease Control report cases of swine flu…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Other L.A.
The hot and humid impoverished region of Lago Agrio has unusual tourism traffic these days. Its renowned Toxic Tours have attracted many…
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Buffet Displays Hope in America’s Energy Future
Warren Buffet, one of the most respected investors in America, recently purchased Burlington Northern, one of the nation’s largest railroads with some 32,000 miles of…
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Obama One Year Later — A Legacy of Lies and Broken Promises
It’s been a year since the president was elected, and he’s already piled up an impressive list of lies and broken promises. The broken promises…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
1 Year Later-Obama’s Legacy of Lies and Broken Promises
It’s been a year since the president was elected, and he’s already piled up an impressive list of lies and broken promises.
Blog
Cap-and-Trade Global Warming Bill Is A Scam, Experts Reveal
Two EPA lawyers criticized the cap-and-trade energy bill passed by the House as a scam, noting in The Washington Post that it will be manipulated…
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“Cities are probably the greenest thing that humans do.”
Environmental guru and author of the Whole Earth Catalog Stewart Brand has a new book out in which he argues that "My fellow environmentalists have…
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Science and the Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture
The UK Royal Society's long-awaited study on improving agricultural productivity and increasing food security was released this morning. it suggests that a healthy concern for…
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Bill Gates Says Africa Needs GMOs
On Friday, Bill Gates announced at the World Food Summit in Des Moines that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be redoubling its efforts…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Not So Peachy Advice
Recently featured on Good Morning America, the Environmental Working Group identified a “dirty dozen” list for the most contaminated produce that includes: peaches, apples,…
Blog
Three Cheers for the Nobel Economic Prizes!
After the weird “future” award to President Obama of the Nobel Peace Prize, another Nobel committee has made a brilliant choice – awarding the Economics…
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2002 Economics Nobel Prize Winner Vernon Smith on 2009 Winner Elinor Ostrom
In honor of the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Economics to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, it’s worth recalling a mention of Ostrom’s…
Newsletter
Opposing Net Neutrality, TSA Unionizing and Banning Soft Toilet Paper
The Washington Post editorializes against the FCC’s proposed “net neutrality” regulations. The American Federation of Government Employees seeks to unionize airport safety screeners and other…
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Regulation of the Day 54: Shovelnose Sturgeon
Why does the Fish and Wildlife Service want to list it as a threatened species? Because it looks like the pallid sturgeon, which is currently…
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AP: Obama Health-Care Plan Raises Taxes, Breaks Campaign Promises
The Associated Press is now chiding President Obama for falsely claiming that his proposed tax on uninsured people is not a tax. It is…
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Chevron Plaintiff Lawyer’s Least Favorite Writer
In Forbes yesterday, New York lawyer Steven Donziger, consultant attorney for Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the suit against Chevron, criticizes my article,…
News Max
Cap-and-Trade’s Cost to Americans: $1,761 per Household
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Big Health and Energy Tax Increases for the Middle Class from Obama and Liberal Congressmen
Even the trimmed-down version of Obama's health-care plan recently announced by a ranking Senator contains lots of tax increases for the middle class.
Blog
The Man Who Fed the World
Norman Borlaug was an American agricultural scientist and plant breeder whose work sparked what is now known as the Green Revolution. He was recognized with…
Blog
The New Organic and Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Congratulations to Pamela Ronald, a UC Davis plant pathology professor, on winning one of this year's Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National…
News Max
‘Racist, Communist’ Green Jobs Czar Van Jones Resigns
Obama’s racist, communist, America-bashing Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, has resigned after revelations that he was a 9/11 “Truther,” who believed that George Bush…
Blog
Video Evidence Suggests Chevron Lawsuit Riddled With Corruption, Santacruz Comments on the Case
A major scandal has arisen in the biggest environmental lawsuit in history - the $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron oil company brought by a lawyer…
News Release
Consumer Reports Becomes National Snitch
CONSUMER REPORTS BECOMES NATIONAL SNITCH Turns High-Performing Showerhead Over to EPA for Exceeding Water-Flow Limit Washington, DC, August 31, 2009 – CEI today…
Washington Examiner
Greens Threaten American Indian Prosperity
Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the United States, has faced a number of enemies in its long history: Anasazi warriors, Andrew Jackson and now,…
Blog
Freegom Isn’t Free
Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, a new book by British author Tristram Stuart, will soon be hitting shelves in the UK and…
Products
CEI Planet: May – June 2009
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles…
Blog
The Environment’s “Odd Couple”: Sustainable Use and Private Management
Chaffee County, Colorado currently has the opportunity to engage in an advantageous business partnership, but environmental groups are attempting to derail this proposition that…
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Penn and Teller on Organics
The irreverent and hilarious comedians Penn and Teller have produced another episode of their television show Bullshit about organic foods. Friends of CEI, Ron Bailey…
Blog
Food Safety Bills Moving Through Congress
With all out attention diverted to the government's attempted takeover of the half of US health care that isn't already nationalized, the attempted destruction of…
Blog
Obama Health-Care Plan Destroys Cheap Health-Care Options, Raises Taxes, Breaks Promises
In 2008, Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. But he is now breaking that promise by…
Newsletter
Chevron in Court, Health Care in Congress and California’s Budget in Crisis
Chevron continues to fight a lawsuit alleging environmental damage done in Ecuador. Republicans go on the offensive against President Obama’s proposed health care plan. Governor…
Washington Examiner
Toxic Revenge
A $27 billion lawsuit brought by an Ecuadorian attorney against Chevron-Texaco blames the oil company for crude spills that have polluted Ecuador’s formerly pristine…
Newsletter
Big Labor in Congress, Private Conservation and White House Science Policy
Potentially dramatic changes in U.S. labor law make their way through the legislative process. Efforts to eliminate E. coli contamination on farms leads to unintended…
Blog
E. coli Happens
This story in the San Francisco Chronicle just shows the insanity of the conventional wisdom these days advanced by greens and anti-corporate farmers. They…
Blog
Rep. McClintock and “California’s Meltdown”
CEI and the Pacific Research Institute recently co-hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on “California’s Meltdown” – the unprecedented combination of flawed economic, energy…
Newsletter
Paulson’s Testimony, Ken Burns on National Parks and Obama’s Surgeon General Nominee
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testifies before the House Government Reform Committee on his handling of the banking crisis. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns announces his…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Endangered Snails
The sixteenth in an occasional series that shines a bit of light on the regulatory state. Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from…
Blog
America’s Worst Idea?
I’m very sorry to see that Ken Burns’ new film series is to be entitled The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. As I detail…
Newsletter
White House Science Czar, Catfish Imports and Gingrich’s “Real” Stimulus
Critics question the controversial beliefs of White House science adviser John Holdren. U.S. catfish producers try to block inexpensive fish imports from Vietnam. Former House…
Blog
Harsanyi on Holdren
Today, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi shines a light on Obama “science czar” John Holdren’s disturbing past pronouncements — which Marc Scribner wrote…
Blog
Fishy Politics May Harm US Consumers
The various US attempts to hobble the Vietnamese farmed-catfish industry is no less underhanded. And, in order to prevent a trade war with Vietnam, it…
Blog
Obama’s Anti-Science Czar
Last week, Michelle Malkin posted on the disturbing past of Obama’s Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House…