CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENVIRONMENT
Local governments embrace the idea of “green” building standards for new construction projects.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Steven Milloy on the politics behind eco-friendly certification:
“‘Building green’ soon may be more about stealthily raking in cash from taxpayers than constructing ‘eco-friendly’ buildings, if the U.S. Green Building Council, or USGBC, has its way in Congress. Part of the energy bill pending in Congress essentially would require that federal buildings be constructed according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standard of the USGBC. The new requirement could be quite lucrative for the USGBC since it charges fees ranging from $2,200 for small buildings to over $23,000 for large buildings for certifying that they have been constructed or retrofitted according to LEED.”
2. BUSINESS
More small entrepreneurs are getting into the ethanol business.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman on the hidden costs of ethanol to taxpayers:
“The link between ethanol mandates and higher food prices has been demonstrated amply in the media. What has received scant media attention is the fact that the increased ethanol mandate proposed by President Bush, passed by the Senate, and now before the House, is a budget buster; it would cost American taxpayers almost a quarter trillion dollars or more over the next 15 years. Given that entitlement spending is set to skyrocket as baby boomers retire, the enormous costs of ethanol mandates threaten to become an unmanageable budget liability.”
3. TELECOM
More households in the U.S. now rely exclusively on mobile phones than on traditional land-lines.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on the future of phone service:
“The land line telephone business faces very serious problems across the board. Traditional land line telephone service transmitted over copper and coaxial cable—the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)—faces serious peril and could well disappear in the medium- to long-term, at least for residential use.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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