Do you love coffee but also love red meat and dessert? If so, there’s good news and bad news. On Thursday, February 19, the Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee (DGAC) released a lengthy 571-page report of suggestions to the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The report explained … Continue reading
As star-studded protests are lining the streets of New York in Manhattan and on Wall Street, it appears that an international debate has been stirred about the importance of protecting the environment. However, while the United Nations met this week to discuss how this goal can be reached, the reality of a national debate in … Continue reading
President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, mentioned the administrations efforts to reduce America’s energy dependence on foreign nations. The president’s energy section in the State of the Union was small, lackluster and dodgy. The president avoided any mention of one of the best ways for the U.S. to increase our import … Continue reading
On Wednesday, President Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University announcing a new climate change policy. The announcement fulfills a promise he made in his State of the Union Address to move forward with executive regulation if Congress failed to act on climate change. It also makes good on his promise to bankrupt the coal … Continue reading
For those who don’t know, absinthe is a grain alcohol of Swiss origin which is made by macerating herbs and spices, the most important of which are fennel, anise and wormwood. The first two give absinthe its characteristic licorice flavor. Wormwood imparts a bitter flavor and is the source of absinthe’s famed mystique and jade-green … Continue reading
The Bipartisan Policy Center recently hosted an event discussing the geopolitical impacts of the US’s recent tight oil boom. Tight oil, or shale oil, production has increased with the expansion of hydraulic fracturing technology used to access shale gas from shale or sandstone formations. Amidst the rallying cries of a “qualified abundance” instead of a … Continue reading
The federal government employs people of many different professional backgrounds, but among them you will not find fortunetellers. Yet scientists, analysts, and lawyers could sometimes use an assist from seers in completing the work they are asked to do. Conducting cost-benefit analyses of agencies’ proposed regulations necessitates predicting their impact on the economy, an unfathomably … Continue reading
In a previous post, I wrote about the challenges of balancing economic and environmental interests when crafting regulatory policy. I argued that while regulations often incur significant economic costs, more regulation doesn’t necessarily translate into greater environmental benefits. This issue came up at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Tuesday about state and federal approaches … Continue reading
Social, economic and political problems plague policy makers and focus attention on an array of both domestic and foreign issues. Congress is notably polarized and it seems that the more important an issue may be, the more difficult compromise is. Top environmental issues tend to revolve around energy production, renewable energy technology, food production, water … Continue reading
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