Lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow renewable energy producers to form Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). MLPs are taxed as limited partnerships but publicly traded on the stock market. In the energy sector, the ability to form MLPs is available for mineral extraction, natural gas, oil, pipelines, geothermal, and the transportation and storage of…

In announcing his nominee for the next Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, President Obama said Gina McCarthy “has focused on practical, cost-effective ways to keep our air clean and our economy growing. She’s earned a reputation as a straight shooter. She welcomes different points of views.”[1] The EPA needs to take an entirely different direction, and…

If confirmed as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nominee Gina McCarthy will inherit an agency exceeding critical mass. This bureaucratic onslaught has decreased American freedom and the EPA’s ability to efficiently address real environmental challenges. Given that McCarthy has helped to build this epitome of regulatory excess, it is important…

Dr. Ernest Moniz, if confirmed by the Senate as next Secretary of Energy, will be taking over a Department wrought with controversy from the past four years. During a time when energy development should be driving the economy forward, pernicious subsidy policies, missing leadership on nuclear waste disposal, and unnecessary limits on conventional fuel development on…

The President and his first-term Administration have encumbered American energy policy with subsidies, mandates, and micromanagement. Energy Secretary nominee Dr. Ernest Moniz seems to offer a seamless continuation of this approach by advocating a policy that dictates or manipulates the production, use, and path of energy in America from Washington. While energy policy is…

In a recent speech at Argonne National Laboratory, President Obama reiterated his desire for an Energy Security Trust.[1] Under the President’s proposal, the trust would divert billions of dollars of revenues generated from oil and gas production on federal lands to subsidize alternative fuel technologies. The Administration’s plan has three fatal flaws. First, it…

In order to compel American businesses and consumers to act in a manner that suits the federal government, various federal agencies have created mandates and energy-efficiency programs for vehicles, homes, manufacturing processes, appliances, and more since the 1970s. Proponents of those programs argue that they save consumers and businesses money, reduce energy use, and…

During his 2013 inaugural address, President Obama told Americans that the United States “will respond to the threat of climate change” and will take the lead for other countries to follow suit. Even assuming the accuracy of climate change models, unilateral action by the U.S. is a costly symbolic gesture that would do nothing to successfully resolve climate challenges.…

The energy sector has been pronounced as a big winner of the “fiscal cliff” legislation signed into law by President Obama. Lumped into the fiscal cliff bill are extensions of energy handouts that were originally scheduled to retire, as well as retroactively rewarded tax breaks for renewable energy that expired at the end of 2011. The inclusion of these targeted tax…

Interested in raising revenue and reducing global warming, some policymakers in Washington are floating the idea of a carbon tax. In order to sway conservatives to support a carbon tax, proponents are pushing for either revenue neutrality or replacing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) greenhouse gas regulations. These proponents ignore three critical realities…