Environment Archives - Page 18 of 21 Voice For Liberty

Aug

Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group: Its Heritage

Paul Chesser of Climate Strategies Watch has done some investigative work looking into the background and affiliations of the Center for Climate Strategies. This is important because CCS is the radical environmentalist group that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is using to run the activities of the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group, or KEEP. The blog post announcing this work is Center for Climate Strategies in Black & White. The work is ongoing.

Aug

By Bob Weeks

Kansas Climate Change Mitigation Will Be Costly

A recent presentation in Kansas revealed that fighting global warming in Kansas will be quite costly, and will harm lower-income families most. The Wichita Eagle article Business leaders hear climate talk reports that The National Association of Manufacturers calculated that cap-and-trade proposals before Congress would cost the average Kansas family $304 per month in the form of higher prices for energy. That's a very large penalty for Kansas families, especially low-income families, to pay to mitigate something that not all scientists agree is a problem. Then, even if you agree that global warming is a problem, there's very little that…

Aug

By Bob Weeks

Pickens’s Slim Economics

An article from the Foundation for Economic Education warns us to be cautious when considering the plans of oilman T. Boone Pickens: Pickens’s commercial no doubt causes FEE readers’ classical-liberal antennae to stand at attention. The word "plan" alone rightly provokes worries of coercive schemes. The notion of being independent of energy or any other commodity from foreign countries goes against the teachings of Smith, Bastiat, and others who recognize the gains from specialization and division of labor. Nor will readers knowledgeable about rent-seeking be surprised that media reports describe Pickens as "heavily invested in natural gas and wind power."…

Aug

By Bob Weeks

Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group: Hiding Budget Numbers

Paul Chesser of Climate Strategies Watch writes about the budget transparency of the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group, or KEEP. Kansas government often has troubles with transparency. One of the main problems with KEEP is that policy is being formulated under the guidance of an outside radical environmentalist group, instead of in the legislature by Kansans, where it belongs. Climate Strategies Watch is a great place to learn more about the Center for Climate Strategies. For example: "CCS portrays itself as a technical advisory service organization that does not advocate for specific policies that will affect climate change.…

Aug

By Bob Weeks

Maryland Previews Kansas Climate Change Panel

In Kansas, the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group, or KEEP, is meeting and planning the future of Kansas energy policy. If we want to see what the conclusions of this effort will look like, we can look to the just-completed effort in Maryland. Yes, we'll have to make a few adjustments, as Maryland has a seashore and Kansas doesn't, but the basic thrust of the report is likely to be much the same. That's because in both states, the Center for Climate Strategies runs the show. Or, as one columnist wrote in Stupid environmentalist tricks in College Park:…

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Center For Climate Strategies in Kansas: Good Economic Analysis?

As the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group deliberates over the future of the environment in Kansas, we ought to examine the quality of the work product that the Center for Climate Strategies has produced in other states. The Beacon Hill Institute has performed an analysis of some of the work CCS has performed, and the results are troubling. This press release contains a link to the study document. This study is short at six pages, and I would encourage you to read the entire document. One of the things CCS does is to claim that reducing greenhouse gas…

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Will Climate Change Impact Kansas?

Kansas Liberty reports on the wide variance in conclusions drawn by two studies on the effect of climate change in Kansas in the post Will climate change impact Kansas? The fact that such variation exists tells me that we should proceed cautiously before committing Kansas to a costly process that, in the end, makes no difference to our climate.

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Kansas owns the carbon, says the governor

Sometimes I read about the things Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius says and I wonder how does she arrive at such outlandish conclusions. An example is in the article Gov. Sebelius gives interview to Grist about KS coal controversy, where our governor says this regarding a proposed coal-fired power plant expansion in Kansas: "Very little of the power that was scheduled to be produced was for Kansas. It actually was electricity that would be exported to Colorado and Texas, yet we would own the carbon. " What does it mean to "own the carbon"? I thought it was called global warming,…

Jul

By Bob Weeks

Wind Production Tax Credits Aren’t Free of Cost

Nancy Jackson of the Climate and Energy Project in Kansas has some tips for citizens and candidates to use when talking about global warming. The article Tips for citizens and candidates - talking about the Production Tax Credit contains warnings about what will happen if the Production Tax Credit (PTC) isn't extended beyond its scheduled expiration date at the end of 2008. Thousands of jobs and billions in investment will be at risk, the post says. Whether these tax credits are desirable is one issue. But what is not at issue is that these tax credits come with a cost.…

Jul

By Bob Weeks

KEEP’s Goal is Predetermined and Ineffectual

Earlier this year, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius created the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group, or KEEP. Its goal, as stated in the press release announcing its creation, is to "...explore opportunities in all sectors of our economy to accomplish the goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions..." Nancy Jackson of the Climate and Energy Project echoed these marching orders in her recent Wichita Eagle opinion piece. This predetermined goal, difficult as it will be to achieve, means nothing to the earth's climate. What Kansas could do, even if we took the most drastic measure possible, is canceled by…