Welcome to Our Research Archive
Search and filter by content type, issue area, author, and keyword
March 9, 2022
How America Can Survive Ukraine War’s Gas and Oil Crisis – and Build a Stronger Energy System
As energy prices skyrocket and Europe considers whether to follow the new U.S. ban on importing Russian oil and gas, policymakers should consider how to build a stronger energy system, better prepared for future disruptions. In recent weeks, opposing voices have argued that record prices driven by the Ukraine crisis mean that the world must accelerate its transition to…
March 8, 2022
Observations on Banning Vs. Sanctioning Russian Crude Oil
Amid the ongoing debate in the U.S. about the wisdom of banning the importation of Russian petroleum, roughly 5-10 percent of total U.S. petroleum imports (crude oil and refined products), it is perhaps unsurprising that some basic principles are being forgotten, unfortunately a ubiquitous characteristic of Beltway analyses. In particular: A U.S. ban on the importation of…
February 17, 2022
Some of the Public Policies That Factor in Rising Energy Costs
Rising energy costs are highly visible and therefore not politically advantageous for politicians with constituencies comprising large numbers of energy consumers. And in politics, as the old saying goes, when you’re explaining you’re losing, a reality that drives most such public officials away from analytics — even if we assume that they understand them —…
February 9, 2022
Natural Gas Export Limits and the Brownsville U-turn
Once an entity with powers limited to those enumerated in the Constitution, the federal government has become a Leviathan, a central practice of which is the legalized theft of private property to be redistributed to favored constituencies. If additional evidence of this truth were needed, look no further than a recent letter from ten U.S. senators to…
February 3, 2022
Arnold Schwarzenegger Gets a Sunburn
News reports last month about a traffic accident involving former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger noted that he was driving a GMC Yukon, a full-size sport-utility vehicle that decidedly is not among the vehicle choices favored by the environmental Left. Indeed, it is fair to describe it as a civilian approximation of an armored personnel carrier. And good for Arnold: he…
January 26, 2022
Biden’s Approach to Climate Action Drives Energy Conflict, Not Cooperation
One year in, the Biden administration finds itself in an energy and climate bind. Its climate policies are a continuation of policies that President Obama adopted during a period of low energy prices. But now high oil, gas and electricity prices are threatening to derail President Biden’s commitment to climate action. The traditional U.S. approach to climate action…
January 26, 2022
How a Federal Regulator Is Hijacking Energy Policy
Sometimes you really do have to hit the mule between the eyes to get its attention. The mule of interest here is not a drug smuggler, but instead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whose legal mandate is straightforward: “Economically Efficient, Safe, Reliable, and Secure Energy for Consumers . . . at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market…
January 13, 2022
Will the Climate Industry Move the Goalposts Again?
The international climate alarmist industry comprises a number of special interests. There are the activists, fundamentally anti-human and deeply disingenuous, demanding that billions of the global poor suffer and die in order that the planet be “saved.” There are the “experts” in pursuit of bigger budgets and “research” grants. There are the editors of the peer-reviewed journals, transforming “science” into a propaganda exercise. There are the bureaucrats massively…
December 16, 2021
Banning Crude-oil Exports Would Increase Gasoline Prices
Having floated a possible export ban on crude oil as a trial balloon last month, the Biden administration earlier this week abandoned the idea, as opposition emerged quickly from Democrats in oil-producing districts. But the mere fact that this proposal received serious consideration illustrates three eternal truths about Beltway policy-making. The first is the virtual certainty of unanticipated or ignored adverse…
November 24, 2021
Oil and Gas Should Be the Tie That Binds Mexico, U.S. and Canada
Thursday’s first meeting between President Joe Biden, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a missed opportunity for North American energy. The three face many shared challenges, but energy, which currently divides them, could instead be a common thread that binds them together. Silence at the highest level sends the wrong signal;…