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May 18, 2020
The PREPA Debt Deal and the Future of Puerto Rico Creditworthiness
There are no free lunches, an eternal truth that does not bode well for the years-long efforts of public officials in Puerto Rico to avoid the realities attendant upon the commonwealth’s staggering public debt of over $70 billion. The $9 billion debt of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) remains one of the largest…
May 14, 2020
Blackrock Discovers the Joy of Other People’s Money
While genuflecting to its fiduciary responsibility to “promote long-term value” for those whose assets it is managing, Blackrock—the largest asset manager in the world—has announced in the form of a public letter from its CEO Larry Fink to corporate managements that henceforth “Sustainability [will serve] as Blackrock’s New Standard for Investing.” It is unsurprising that nowhere in the various materials issued…
May 6, 2020
Can We Tackle Both Climate Change and Covid-19 Recovery?
No — Carbon taxes and green policies harm economic growth and jobs The close relationships between real gross domestic product, employment and energy consumption for both less and more developed economies mean that policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions would reduce economic growth and employment. The reason is straightforward: they would increase the cost…
May 5, 2020
Benjamin Zycher Responses to Questions for the Record from Chairman Barrasso and Senator Whitehouse
Introduction. This note offers responses to the questions posed by Chairman Barrasso and Senator Whitehouse attendant upon the prepared statement for the record of Dr. Benjamin Zycher of the American Enterprise Institute and Dr. Patrick J. Michaels of the Competitive Enterprise Institute on the proposed S. 2754, “American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2019.”1 The…
April 28, 2020
How the Trump Administration Should Structure Gulf Oil Royalty Relief
The Trump administration reportedly is considering a proposal to reduce the royalty rate on the future oil and gas production from forthcoming sales of leases for exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico. That proposal is ill-conceived; a far better approach would be a temporary suspension of royalty payments from existing operations, and it is clear…
April 22, 2020
Earth Day 2020: The Exhaustion of the Climate Left
“Climate Action” is the theme of this 50th Earth Day, and it is useful to note that these five decades of apocalyptic warnings truly are amazing in their consistency: Not one actually has come to pass. The juxtaposition of two news stories, respectively from 1988 and from last January, is among the more amusing tidbits from decades of climate fearmongering….
April 18, 2020
Correcting the Record on the EPA Decision to Ease Reporting Requirements
In a display of crass dishonesty shameless even by Beltway standards, the usual suspects in the environmental left, led by the ineffable Al Gore, have mischaracterized, blatantly, a temporary policy change on compliance reporting requirements adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency. This change was announced because of widespread adaptations by both businesses and regulators in employment conditions—physical…
April 13, 2020
It Would Be Wise for Government to Not Meddle in the Oil Market
The crude oil sector now is confronted by a sharp decline in demand conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in production attendant upon the price feud between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Whether the deal brokered over the weekend by the Trump administration among Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. will raise…
April 8, 2020
Prepared Statement of Dr. Benjamin Zycher and Dr. Patrick J. Michaels on S. 2754, “American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2019”
The Committee on Environment and Public Works of the U.S. Senate is considering the proposed bill S. 2754, the “American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2019,” (hereafter “AIM”) which would mandate a phaseout of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, ostensibly to reduce the climate change (“radiative”) impacts of HFC leakage into the atmosphere. This would engender in…
April 6, 2020
Comment Letter to the Railroad Commission of Texas
To the Railroad Commission of Texas: Re: Motion for Commission Called Hearing on the Verified Complaint of Pioneer Natural Resources U.S.A. Inc. and Parsley Energy Inc. to Determine Reasonable Market Demand for Oil in the State of Texas Dear Commissioners: My name is Benjamin Zycher; I am the senior economic and policy staff member for…