Daily Policy Digest
Environment Issues
| Interest Group Wants to End Natural Gas Exports Natural gas prices have fallen about 50 percent in the last few years as a result of increased production due to hydraulic fracturing... |
| Pricing Electric Cars Different electricity rates means that an all-electric 2011 Nissan Leaf would cost only $28.29 to drive 1,000 miles in Washington state but more than $97 to drive that same distance in Hawaii... |
| California's Push for Renewable Energy Will Raise Prices California's 33 percent renewable portfolio standard will cost California approximately $5 billion in 2020... |
| Exaggerated Global Warming Claims May Lead to Poor Policy The United States is actually at the lowest point of hurricane activity, measured by total energy, since the 1970s... |
| United States Could Become the World's Largest Energy Producer By 2030 approximately 99 percent of America's energy needs will be met at home, compared with only 70 percent in 2005... |
| Electric Cars: Still a Work in Progress The electric car market as a whole accounted for merely 0.1 percent of the 15-million-car-per-year American market, up only 0.001 percent from 2011... |
| Overreacting to Environmental Crimes Many statutes in the Gulf Coast states do not require the perpetrator to act with mens rea, or a "guilty mind," meaning that violators could unknowingly wind up on the wrong side of the law... |
| Plastic Bag Restrictions Offer Few Benefits A 2011 study found that traditional plastic bags have the lowest environmental impact of any of the bags, including biodegradable and cotton bags... |
| Corn-Based Ethanol Production Should Cease As a fuel source, corn ethanol is far less efficient than gasoline, providing 27 percent lower fuel economy than traditional gasoline... |
| Our Cars' Weight Problem Crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that smaller cars are virtually obliterated in 40 mile per hour crashes when compared with their heavier counterparts... |
