How Many Times Must We Do This?

March 7, 2023

Twenty-three states have now sued the EPA over its so-called “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, because once again, the agency is asserting federal authority over water not covered under the law. The lawsuit says the rule “goes beyond the power Congress delegated in the Clean Water Act, raises serious constitutional concerns, and runs […]

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Time to Bite the Bullet Again

February 25, 2023

When we have to do something unpleasant, the common expression is “bite the bullet.” The phrase originated on Civil War battlefields when amputations often had to be done without anesthetics. To distract the patient from excruciating pain, he would be given a lead bullet to bite down on. Sticks or leather were common, too, but […]

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To Be Effective, Stay in Your Lane

February 14, 2023

A New York Times “climate desk” reporter named David Gelles recently wrote a fascinating account of the internal battle plaguing the Sierra Club for three years. His lead explained that “Like many other American institutions, the Sierra Club was convulsed by the 2020 murder of George Floyd…” Some of his readers must have thought, “Wait, […]

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Where Exactly Is This Property?

February 8, 2023

“Cadastre” is an early 19th Century word describing a property inventory used to allocate taxes. The word has just found its way into federal law, thanks to an amendment added to the recent 4,155-page “omnibus” appropriations bill. The new section refers to an inventory of federal lands, which are not taxed at all, so technically […]

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No Energy is Clean Enough, Green Enough

February 1, 2023

Apparently, people in rural Ohio are not overly fond of renewable energy. In fact, various county commissioners there voted down 42 wind energy and 43 solar energy projects in 2022. Sixteen of the proposed wind farms were in Logan County. Interestingly, Logan County, Colorado also said no to a proposed wind farm. The two counties […]

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Cooking Up Another Ban

January 27, 2023

The national press corps sometimes jokes about a president so excited by a big event he insists, “We must tell the press at once!” and his staff responds, “Yes, sir – announcement or leak?” Leaks are not always unplanned in Washington; often they are a strategy, floating a trial balloon to see the reaction. It […]

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It Wasn’t Always This Contentious

January 18, 2023

When did environmental issues become so divisive, bitter, angry, and litigious? Historically speaking, that is a recent development. We generally think of America’s environmental awareness as beginning with Theodore Roosevelt and his allies: George Bird Grinnell, Gifford Pinchot, John Wesley Powell, John Muir and a few others, who gave the name “conservation” to the movement […]

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Coal is Still King – Elsewhere

January 13, 2023

Does the rest of the world know something we don’t? A December report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) confirms that worldwide use of coal hit an all-time high in 2022, following a huge increase in 2021, and is on track to increase further in 2023. The report was barely mentioned by most of the […]

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Can Anyone Manage the Federal Estate?

January 10, 2023

Remember when air travel used to fun? Big carriers like PanAm competed with TWA and Eastern, as did smaller ones like Braniff and Piedmont, each claiming to offer better food and more comfortable seats. They’re all gone now. The big mergers started in 2001 with American and TWA. Delta and Northwest merged in 2008, followed […]

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Powered by Human Ingenuity

December 30, 2022

The recent news that scientists have finally produced a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that generates a net energy gain was greeted with substantial skepticism, but also a great deal of excitement. Some of the hype was a bit over the top, heralding the achievement at Lawrence Livermore Labs as a sign that a fossil-fuel free […]

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