Publications -- Environment

Oct 05, 2005

BA #530 – Hot Air vs. the Cold Hard Truth about Hurricanes and Global Warming

Environmental lobbyists quickly responded to the Gulf Coast devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita with loud assertions that the underlying cause of these more frequent, more dangerous and more costly hurricanes is global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions. There is just one problem: science. Historical data and ongoing hurricane research reveal scant evidence linking human-caused warming to more frequent or powerful hurricanes.

Sep 30, 2005

ST #279 – The Physical Evidence of Earth's Unstoppable 1,500-Year Climate Cycle

The Earth currently is experiencing a warming trend, but there is scientific evidence that human activities have little to do with it.

Sep 14, 2005

ST #278 – Living with Global Warming

Should we try to prevent global warming? Or should we use our resources to adapt to the consequences of warming?  This paper analyzes costs and benefits of two different approaches.

Jul 26, 2005

BA #522 – An Ill Wind for Consumers: The Energy Bill

One of the most important differences facing a congressional conference committee reconciling the Senate and House versions of the 2005 energy bill is a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that appears in the Senate version but was rejected by the House. It would require all electric utilities selling more than 4 million kilowatt-hours (kwh) per year - which would include all major and many minor electric power systems - to obtain at least 10 percent of their power from "renewable" sources by 2020. In effect the RPS defines renewables by exclusion - sources that are not fossil-fueled, nuclear or hydroelectric. Eligible renewables include windmills, solar power, waste burning, geothermal, landfill gas and exotic sources like the tides.

Mar 28, 2005

BA #508 – Dispelling the Myths About Nuclear Power

The manifest benefits of nuclear technology - from radiological medical screening and treatments, to smoke detectors, to electric power generation - have not dispelled the common belief that it is unduly hazardous. Of the many areas in which nuclear technology has been applied, perhaps none has been more damaged by the fear of radiation than nuclear power.

Mar 28, 2005

BA #511 – Burning Bright: Nuclear Energy’s Future

U.S. demand for electricity will increase 50 percent by 2025, according to forecasts in the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) "Annual Energy Outlook 2004." At least 350,000 megawatts of new generating capacity - hundreds of new power plants - will be needed before then.

Nov 18, 2004

BA #494 – Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Proponents hoped that it would help the world avoid catastrophe caused by human induced climate change. However, Kyoto faced long odds of ever coming into effect in the United States.

Oct 21, 2004

BA #492 – Kerry’s Energy Plan: Inconsistent, Expensive, Leaving America Less Secure

Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) energy plan promises to reduce energy prices, maintain diversity of supply while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improve our domestic energy security. However, his goals are contradictory and implementation will be expensive. Ultimately, Kerry's energy policy is a hopeless muddle, and would result in less energy security and higher fuel costs.

Sep 16, 2004

BA #485 – Applying the Precautionary Principle to DDT

In the past quarter-century environmentalists rediscovered the old adage, “better safe than sorry,” repackaged it as the “precautionary principle,” and with the aid of their allies in European governments, succeeded in incorporating it into several multilateral environmental agreements. Several versions of the principle are now ensconced in the Rio Declaration of 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, among others.

Jul 12, 2004

BA #478 – Breaking the “Hockey Stick”

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims that human activities are responsible for nearly all earth's recorded warming during the past two centuries. A widely circulated image used by the IPCC dramatically depicting these temperature trends resembles a hockey stick with three distinct parts: a flat "shaft" extending from A.D. 1000 to 1900, a "blade" shooting up from A.D. 1900 to 2000, and a range of uncertainty in temperature estimates that envelops the shaft like a "sheath."