Like Sands Through the Hourglass – So Are the Days of Our Discontent

July 8, 2016

A respected freelance writer named Vince Beiser penned a column last summer offering a preview of his coming book on one of the world’s most important but overlooked natural resources, sand. He points out that we use more sand than any other natural resource except water, and perhaps air (though I’m not sure how one […]

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This Delay Smells Fishy

July 7, 2016

Here is a quandary for you: should seafood be regulated as agriculture or as food? For Members of Congress, that hasn’t always been as obvious as it might seem to ordinary people. You see, the Department of Agriculture has jurisdiction over meat, poultry, and eggs, but all other food is regulated by the Food and […]

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Get Off My Lawn

July 7, 2016

There was a time when the rules of congressional courtesy forbid congressmen from introducing bills affecting another congressman’s district without a very specific agreement between the two. The standard was simple: “you take care of your district and I’ll take care of mine.” There was a strong sense of “turf” that all Members respected, almost […]

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A Serious Setback for Colordao

July 7, 2016

“My, what big teeth you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood, only then realizing she was speaking to the big bad wolf, disguised in grandmother’s clothes and hungry. I don’t know if parents still read the tale to their children, with its lesson about the hazards of strangers. But it should be read again and […]

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A Whale of an Unintended Consequence

July 7, 2016

Wind energy continues to be controversial, which seems surprising. Most people rightly think of the wind as not only renewable, but free. However, the technology needed to turn that free and renewable resource into usable electricity is not free, and we continually learn more about its unintended impacts. For 30 years energy companies, utilities, government […]

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Now It Concerns Us!

July 7, 2016

Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx threatened to shut down the DC Metro subway system when an electrical fire at one of the stations caused a day-long shutdown. It reminded me of the old Jimmy Stewart movie “Shenandoah,” in which a southern family tries to stay out of the Civil War, the patriarch continually asserting that […]

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Which Kilowatt Would You Like?

July 7, 2016

Americans have tried for more than a generation to wean ourselves from fossil fuels, and shift to renewable energy. Since the 1990s we have provided tens of billions in major tax subsidies for wind power. By 2005 we were spending enormous resources to develop hydrogen cars. Under President Obama, we have “invested” more than $200 […]

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Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

July 7, 2016

In April the U.S. Senate passed the first comprehensive energy policy bill in nearly a decade, and will now try to negotiate a compromise with a similar House bill passed earlier. One section was of particular interest to people concerned about the massive growth of environmental lawsuits. It reinstates a requirement for federal agencies to […]

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A Little Push-Back

June 26, 2016

In May, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law a bill designed to give the federal government something it has needed for a very long time, a shot across the bow. Federal attempts to own and control the water in western states have been a raspberry seed in our wisdom tooth for years, but when […]

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Who Will Be Next?

May 9, 2016

Twice I have written about the growing attempt to silence debate about climate change. Both times I’ve been bombarded with comments from readers with a different opinion, some of them in a very bad mood about it. One wonders if they appreciate the irony of their right to dissent – a right that some of […]

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