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October 15, 2020
The Green New Deal Is Awful but Unlikely
During the September 29 presidential debate, Democratic candidate Joe Biden asserted that he does not “support the Green New Deal.” It “is not my plan.” Instead, he supports “the Biden Plan, which is different.” Put aside Biden’s silly claim that the Green New Deal “will pay for itself,” and ignore the fact that the Biden Plan…
October 5, 2020
Comment Letter to DOL on ‘fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights’
This comment letter responds to a request from the Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, for comments on its proposed rule “Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights” (hereinafter referenced here as the “Fiduciary Duties/Proxy Voting” rule), focusing on “the prudence and exclusive purpose duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act…
September 16, 2020
An Alaska Energy Tax Proposal Meant to Shoot Alaska in the Foot
When proponents of a tax increase resort to the age-old argument that it is justified because those prospectively subject to it are paying less than their “fair share,” observers safely can make two assumptions. First: The proposed tax increase cannot be justified on the basis of standard public finance principles. Second: Those being threatened are…
August 18, 2020
The Trump Administration Reforms Obama’s Misguided Methane Emissions Rule
Let the hysteria begin. The Trump administration has finalized a reform of the federal rules on emissions of methane, the major component of natural gas, from oil and gas production. The existing rules were implemented by the Obama administration in 2016, justified largely as a means of addressing anthropogenic climate change. That justification is deeply dubious, but any relaxation of such regulations…
August 6, 2020
What the US Can Learn from a Huge Oil Discovery in Guyana
The Trump administration proposed last month a reform of the regulations implementing the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, for decades a source of massive delay and cost increases for federal projects, yielding actual environmental harm because of an inherent bias in favor of the status quo over new investment promising improved environmental outcomes. It can come as no surprise that criticism from…
August 6, 2020
Environmentalists Should Not Oppose Natural Gas
Opposition to infrastructure investment for the production and transport of conventional energy is de rigueur on the environmentalist left, a stance widely justified as an important bulwark for the protection of environmental quality. This is part of the “keep-it-in-the-ground” dimension of the ideological opposition to fossil fuels, itself a deeply anti-human drive intended explicitly to hinder economic growth and increased flourishing among the world’s poorest….
August 4, 2020
Joe Stiglitz Reviews Bjorn Lomborg’s New Book
In a recent New York Times review of Bjorn Lomborg’s new book, “False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet” (Basic Books, 2020), Joseph E. Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 2001, performs a real public service. Not in terms of his…
July 29, 2020
Comment Letter to EPA on Transparency Rule for New Regulations Under the Clean Air Act
This comment letter responds to a request from the Environmental Protection Agency for comments on its June 11 proposed rule “Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process” (hereinafter the “Benefit/Cost” rule). The proposed rule focuses on “processes that [EPA] would be required to undertake in promulgating…
July 21, 2020
Comment Letter to DOL on ‘financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments’
This comment letter responds to a request from the Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, for comments on its June 30 proposed rule “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments” (hereinafter the “Financial Factors” rule) focusing on “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) investing by private pension plans governed under the Employee Retirement Income Security…
July 8, 2020
Proxy Advisory Firms and the Need for SEC Protection of Investors’ Fiduciary Interests
Opportunities to spend other people’s money are addicting, an eternal truth that now has emerged in full force in the context of corporate governance. Large, publicly-owned businesses, and public-pension funds managing the assets of many people, command substantial resources. The uses of those resources traditionally have been constrained by the fiduciary interests of the investors who…