NCPA's Energy and Environment Blog

Job Dispersion in US Metropolitan Areas

Wendell Cox — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:05:47 +0000

The continuing dispersion of employment in the nation’s major metropolitan areas has received attention in two recent reports. The Brookings Institution has publishedresearch showing that employment dispersion continued between 2000 and 2010, finding job growth was greater outside a three mile radius from central business districts between 2000 and 2010 in 100 metropolitan areas Note 1). [...]

When weather doesn’t cooperate with Climate prognostications

Sterling Burnett — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:37:45 +0000

Every time there is a hurricane, drought, flood, etc…, or when a daily, weekly or annual temperature breaks a record certain scientists take the opportunity to opine, that while this or that particular record heat wave or hurricane can’t be tied to global warming, its is the kind of pattern that the models and theory [...]

More Guns, Less Crime: Lott once again proven right!

Sterling Burnett — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:54:25 +0000

My colleague and friend, noted economist Dr. John Lott has been telling anyone who would listen for the past decade and a half that more guns in law-abiding hands (especially when carried) result in lower crime rates. His data driven argument flies in the face of liberal claims that more guns result in more violence [...]

On Energy: Obama takes credit where criticism is due

Sterling Burnett — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:02:08 +0000

President Obama has led the biggest war on reliable energy – meaning primarily fossil fuels – of any President in history. And yet he repeatedly takes credit for these industries’ successes. Obama has repeatedly had the gall to take credit for the growth of jobs, revenues and energy production in the oil and gas industry, [...]

RPS: RIP

Sterling Burnett — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:41:09 +0000

The NCPA has argued repeatedly that the best energy policy for the economy, consumers, government revenues and the environment would be an energy neutral policy, under which no energy source received subsidies, government support or special encouragement. Under such a policy, all energy sources would compete on an equal footing, with the result that inefficient, [...]

On Climate Change: “We just don’t know yet,” is the truth

Sterling Burnett — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:00:50 +0000

Various news outlets have been forced to note in recent months what the I and others have noted for a number of years already – global warming, by which I mean an actual rise in global average temperature as predicted by all the climate models and theories that blame the rise in CO2 for the [...]

Sydney to Abandon Radical Smart Growth Policy

Wendell Cox — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:53:33 +0000

Australia’s New South Wales state government has proposed a new Metropolitan Strategy for the Sydney area which would significantly weaken its highly restrictive smart growth policy (also called urban containment, smart growth, livability, growth management, densification, etc.) that has driven if house prices to among the highest in the affluent New World (Australia, Canada, New [...]

Rare Earth Elements and Mining Get Attention on the Hill

Sterling Burnett — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:07:40 +0000

There has been a flurry of action on Capitol Hill regarding the need to improve our knowledge of the amounts of rare earths in the country, our current resource needs, constraints and bottle-necks and need to streamline mining laws. There is no easy link to this material so I post the full article below: MINING: [...]

Advocates of the Climate “Consensus” Ignore It When It Becomes an Inconvenient Truth

Todd Myers — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:01:17 +0000

A web site called “Information is Beautiful” has an infographic it claims demonstrates the damage being done by carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. The graphic, however, shows how disingenuous the environmental left can be when it comes to climate science. Rather than using the “consensus” science, the graphic goes out of its way to [...]

On Government Ammo Purchases, Do the Math

Sterling Burnett — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:37:44 +0000

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder about the Obama administration’s recent run on ammunition. Beginning in the summer of 2012, various federal agencies began purchasing large amounts of ammunition – agencies which aren’t often thought of as having a law enforcement capacity, much less a substantially armed policing force: the Social [...]