EPA’s Endangerment Finding Endangers Economy

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced on Monday that agency scientists, taking into account hundreds of thousands of comments, had determined that carbon and other greenhouse-gas emissions endanger the health and safety of the U.S. population.  The EPA finding followed Supreme Court instructions to the agency to determine if greenhouse gases should be regulated under the [...]

Some Utility Companies Want Cap and Trade Now

“Utility executives are stepping up calls for legislation to cap greenhouse-gas emissions, fearing that if Congress doesn’t act, the EPA will establish rules that would be costlier and less effective.” (Wall Street Journal, Monday) Summary of domestic energy policy debate: Devil you know or the devil you don’t? FEE Timely Classic: “The Perverse Popularity of [...]

Book Reviews – August 2006

• Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the WW II Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan
  by A. C. Grayling
  Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling

• How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution
  
  by Richard A. Epstein Reviewed
  by George C. Leef

• Saving Our Environment from Washington

  by David Schoenbrod Reviewed by Jane S. Shaw

• The Quotable Mises

  Edited by Mark Thornton Reviewed by William H. Peterson

One Man’s Regulatory Nightmare

I am an independent homebuilder in Granite City, Illinois. If I told you that while building a housing development, I created a dangerous and mosquito-infested dump, ripped up a pristine pond, and created severe flooding for my neighbors, you would rightly be outraged—perhaps enough to call for government regulators to throw the book at me. [...]

The Federally Mandated Toilet Still Doesn’t Work

Three years ago we moved into our newly built home in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The whole family was excited. While all new houses have some problems, I was not expecting the toilets to be among them. How could this be? After all, these toilets were brand new. As it turns out, that was precisely the [...]

Getting the Most Out of Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to reduce pollution with command and control suffers from the same problem as attempting to direct the economy with socialism—central authorities dictate outcomes without knowing what the outcomes should be or how they are best achieved.

The Perverse Popularity of Command and Control

Most government attempts to protect the environment involve imposing detailed regulations on how, and how much, pollution must be reduced. This command-and-control approach does reduce pollution, but as I explained last month, it does so at high cost.

Making Environmental Tradeoffs

Wealthy countries have it easy. Their citizens are richer. Their people enjoy healthier and safer environments. Yet Western nations are hindering Third World people from improving their lives—in the name of the environment.

Malaria is seen as a poor nation’s disease, but it once afflicted today’s industrialized states. Decades ago people in the United States and Europe suffered from this, one of history’s most ravaging diseases. But malaria has essentially disappeared in the West.