Something to Give a Dam About

January 17, 2020

A wire story printed by dozens of newspapers last month called attention to a national safety problem, the age and condition of dams. Its headline said “At least 1,680 dams across the U.S. pose potential risk.” That is my candidate for understatement of the decade. There are 91,468 dams in the U.S., including 1,803 in […]

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Can We See Clearly Now?

January 10, 2020

Comics used to joke, “Maybe we’ll see things more clearly by 2020.” After a string of jokes about how muddled and confused the world seemed, the reference to perfect vision sounded especially humorous. It has only been 2020 for three days, but there are already hundreds of columns, editorials, and books using the now-trite reference […]

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Change the Terms – Win the Debate

January 5, 2020

Government no longer “spends money.” It “invests in the future.” If, despite that distinction, you still worry about multi-trillion-dollar deficits, you understand one of the most important techniques in the art of debate – when you’re losing, change the terms. Successful politicians master that art to push policies that might be unpopular if understood. If […]

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Boulder’s Me-Too Lawsuit

December 28, 2019

Colorado taxpayers, especially those in Boulder and San Miguel Counties, might want to ask how of their money is being spent pursuing climate lawsuits against oil companies, now that it’s clear those lawsuits are headed nowhere. The “Exxon Knew” strategy began with a highly-publicized press conference by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. He accused […]

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The Colorado Welcome Mat

December 18, 2019

Washington insiders’ opposition to moving the BLM to Grand Junction reached a new low last week. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), fired another shot at the Interior Department, still trying to stop the move before it starts. The chairman’s latest letter to Interior Secretary Dave Bernhardt raised a bizarre issue, as a […]

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Clean Energy Has a Dirty Secret

December 13, 2019

“Governments should temporarily provide funding for new energy technologies so that they can become market competitive with traditional energy resources.” So the Global Energy Network Institute and other renewable energy advocates have been saying for decades. Taxpayers have been assured such subsidies would be “temporary,” just to “level the playing field” until the renewable industry […]

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Everybody Eats When They Come Here

December 6, 2019

Good Housekeeping magazine has a list of the most famous and popular Thanksgiving songs of all time, and more than half of them are about food. My favorite was recorded by the jazz pioneer Cab Calloway in 1948, called “Everybody Eats When They Come to My House.” It is not about turkey, but does mention […]

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All Hat and No Cattle

November 29, 2019

The proposed ballot measure forcing introduction of wolves into Western Colorado has touched off another debate pitting ranchers and livestock advocates against proponents (primarily the Sierra Club and a coalition of outside environmental organizations calling themselves the Southern Rockies Wolf Restoration Project.) They argue the supposed benefits, and the dangers, of bringing in wolves. But […]

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Revolving Doors Save Energy

November 22, 2019

One of the largest and most powerful environmental industry groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRCD), has hired former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy as its new president. Although NRDC put out press releases, the hiring escaped the notice of nearly every reporter in the country. Perhaps it didn’t seem especially unusual, nor would it be, […]

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How About a Dietary Impact Statement?

November 13, 2019

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a dairy farm cannot expand its operation, adding additional cows, without an “environmental impact statement” (EIS) analyzing its effect on global climate change. To be fair, there should be a similar legal requirement, whenever significant changes might affect agriculture, for a “dietary impact statement.” Adding more cows […]

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