A big win for the White Mountain National Forest, multiple use, and local control.
A big defeat for Jeanne Shaheen's radical agenda, disguised as environmentalism.
But the fight against nuisance lawsuits blocking responsible use of our natural resources isn't close to over.
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Friday, August 15, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Green & Smart in the NY Post
Glenn Reynolds' column in the New York Post should make sense no matter what you think of Al Gore.
Read the whole thing. Ultimately, new technology holds the greatest promise for a cleaner world.
Hattip: Jim Lindgren at the Volokh Conspiracy.
* Reducing carbon emissions by making people poorer will never happen. Just ask people in China - now the world's No. 1 carbon emitter - how interested they are in returning to the economic conditions they suffered a few decades ago when their carbon emissions were lower.
* Burning fossil fuels is a lousy idea for reasons that have nothing to do with global warming. These hydrocarbons offer important applications as fertilizers and chemical feedstocks, making it foolish to burn them for fuel.
* New technologies are generally cleaner, safer and more efficient than old ones.
Read the whole thing. Ultimately, new technology holds the greatest promise for a cleaner world.
Hattip: Jim Lindgren at the Volokh Conspiracy.
Happy Earth Day
The Nashua Telegraph shares the origins of Earth Day, and the importance of making environmental issues a priority:
The environmental challenges we face are complex, and will require difficult choices, but that should not deter us from tackling these challenges. Just as we need candidates unafraid to address the looking crisis of government spending, we need candidates who will address the need to lower carbon dioxide emissions, improve air quality, and diversify our energy sources.
Just as we need government to ensure the rule of law in order to have a truly free economy, our government needs to be responsible for managing our public lands, our public waters, and our common atmosphere. However, acknowledging the power of property rights is the most effective way of protecting these common resources.
For too long, we have ceded this debate to those who always favor larger government and more command and control. I favor market solutions because they work. True markets don't subsidize favored industries, or underwrite destructive policies like the ethanol mandate. Real markets account for the costs of pollution, and provide incentives to reduce it. A real cap and trade plan auctions emissions rights openly, rather than handed out the privilege to friends of the regulating bureaucrats. And that will lead to less sulfur, less nitrogen, less mercury, and even less carbon going into our atmosphere every year.
Market forces can lead to a cleaner environment than state controls. We aren't there yet, but we're certainly further along than countries that rely completely on the power of government to protect their environment.
Happy Earth Day
The rest, as they say, is history. On April 22, 1970 – 38 years ago today – it is estimated that 20 million people rallied in the name of a cleaner environment. Many believe that single event led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and improvements to clean air and water regulations.
Today, the environmental issues facing our nation are no less challenging, coping with climate change and developing cleaner, alternative forms of energy chief among them.
The environmental challenges we face are complex, and will require difficult choices, but that should not deter us from tackling these challenges. Just as we need candidates unafraid to address the looking crisis of government spending, we need candidates who will address the need to lower carbon dioxide emissions, improve air quality, and diversify our energy sources.
Just as we need government to ensure the rule of law in order to have a truly free economy, our government needs to be responsible for managing our public lands, our public waters, and our common atmosphere. However, acknowledging the power of property rights is the most effective way of protecting these common resources.
For too long, we have ceded this debate to those who always favor larger government and more command and control. I favor market solutions because they work. True markets don't subsidize favored industries, or underwrite destructive policies like the ethanol mandate. Real markets account for the costs of pollution, and provide incentives to reduce it. A real cap and trade plan auctions emissions rights openly, rather than handed out the privilege to friends of the regulating bureaucrats. And that will lead to less sulfur, less nitrogen, less mercury, and even less carbon going into our atmosphere every year.
Market forces can lead to a cleaner environment than state controls. We aren't there yet, but we're certainly further along than countries that rely completely on the power of government to protect their environment.
Happy Earth Day
Friday, April 11, 2008
Saving NH's Working Forests
Tom Thomson has an article in today's Union Leader on how to get the most out of New Hampshire's working forest:
Markets, not subsidies and regulations, are the way to grow the economy in rural New Hampshire.
We know the wood fiber is there. Forest landowners are unwilling to give their wood away; all we need is to have markets that pay everyone in the forest food chain their fair share, and you will see plenty of wood available.
We all have been hit hard by the energy crisis, but this crisis brings great opportunities for our state and the forest community by using low-grade forest products (our natural renewable resource) in a sustainable manner to produce a significant percentage of our energy needs here in New Hampshire, provide thousands of jobs and keep our energy dollars here at home. I call on Gov. John Lynch and all other elected or appointed state officials to become fully engaged in this important issue. We have reached a crisis in New Hampshire's working forest. We need to act now or our timber industry -- New Hampshire's oldest, largest continuous industry -- will be gone.
Markets, not subsidies and regulations, are the way to grow the economy in rural New Hampshire.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Good news on greenhouse gasses
U.S. emissions are down, and without a Kyoto-style command and control system.
Hattip: Instapundit
This is good news. Human activity is increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and the long term consequences are unpredictable and possible severe. We do not need to wreck our economy, or turn over control of our energy industry to a vast carbon bureaucracy as Al Gore would have us believe. We should look for free market solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike Kyoto, they might actually work.
My personal hope is that advances in battery technology will someday soon allow cars to travel the same distance as a tank of gas, and recharge within 10 or 15 minutes. Until those batteries come along, we're not going to be driving electric cars. So, who trusts Congress to get that job done, and who trusts market capitalism?
Hattip: Instapundit
This is good news. Human activity is increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and the long term consequences are unpredictable and possible severe. We do not need to wreck our economy, or turn over control of our energy industry to a vast carbon bureaucracy as Al Gore would have us believe. We should look for free market solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike Kyoto, they might actually work.
My personal hope is that advances in battery technology will someday soon allow cars to travel the same distance as a tank of gas, and recharge within 10 or 15 minutes. Until those batteries come along, we're not going to be driving electric cars. So, who trusts Congress to get that job done, and who trusts market capitalism?
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