Bottled Water, Government Bonds and Wind Power
California’s attorney general threatens to sue Nestlé over a bottled water plant’s alleged environmental impacts.
House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) champions legislation to change the way government bonds are rated.
Texas oil magnate T. Boone Pickens holds a series of town hall meetings to promote his plan to dramatically expand the use of wind energy.
1. ENVIRONMENT
California’s attorney general threatens to sue Nestlé over a bottled water plant’s alleged environmental impacts.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on the anti-bottled water crusade:
“Thanks to environmental activists and busybody lawmakers, bottled water may soon be more expensive and less accessible. They say bottled water is wasteful and environmentally irresponsible, and they are pushing a host of silly laws to tax, ban or otherwise hinder access to the product. Among the anti-bottled water complaints is the claim that making and transporting bottled water uses too much oil and that switching to tap water could significantly reduce U.S. oil consumption. Yet even if everyone stopped drinking bottled water, U.S. oil consumption would decrease just 0.02 percent, based on figures found in a recent New York Times article criticizing bottled water.”
2. FINANCE
House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) champions legislation to change the way government bonds are rated.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on why this matters:
“Ratings matter because they determine interest rate a government will have to pay and, thus, set an effective cap on the total amount of debt that a government can issue, as well as the revenues it will have to raise to service the debt. Greater ability to issue bonds at lower interest rates would let government do more. People who like small government have reason to be worried about this. So do bond investors. If corporate and government debt were held to equal standards based on default risk, this would result in significant “grade inflation” for all state and local government debt.”
3. BUSINESS
Texas oil magnate T. Boone Pickens holds a series of town hall meetings to promote his plan to dramatically expand the use of wind energy.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Steven Milloymurky legality of Pickens’ wind farm: on the
“Earlier this year, Texas changed its law to allow renewable energy projects (like Pickens’ wind farm) to obtain rights-of-way by piggybacking on a water district’s eminent domain power. So Pickens can now use his water district’s authority to also condemn land for his future wind farm’s transmission lines. Who will pay for the rights-of-way and the transmission lines and pipelines? Thanks to another gift from Texas politicians, Pickens’ water district can sell tax-free, taxpayer-guaranteed municipal bonds to finance the $2.2 billion cost of the water pipeline. And then earlier this month, the Texas legislature voted to spend $4.93 billion for wind farm transmission lines. While Pickens has denied that this money is earmarked for him, he nevertheless is building the largest wind farm in the world.”