How to best preserve American jobs, protect the environment and reduce the country’s dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels is the subject of two views — one from U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and the other from David Wendt, president of The Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs.

Sen. John Barrasso: Time to Put Brakes on EPA’s Runaway Bureaucrats

I recently introduced the “Defending America’s Affordable Energy and Jobs Act (S.228).” This legislation puts the brakes on Washington’s efforts to institute job-crushing carbon regulations. It is a rebuke that unelected bureaucrats badly need.

The Defending America’s Affordable Energy and Jobs Act will block all federal authorities from regulating greenhouse gases without express approval from Congress. It puts an end to any grounds for legal action regarding climate change under the Clean Water Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act or federal tort law generally. CONTINUE READING

David Wendt: Saving Red, White & Blue Energy Jobs

It may be time, as U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., suggests, to “declare a cease-fire in the war on red, white, and blue jobs.” But maybe we should ask who really is waging that war, and how do those jobs stand to be lost?

In the last three years, more than 100 coal-fired power plants have been canceled or shut down. This is not happening because coal has become more expensive. Indeed, coal remains by far the cheapest form of electric power production. Yet electric power utilities are abandoning it despite its low cost. They recognize that future markets for electric power will reward producers who switch to wind and natural gas as preferred low-carbon energy sources. CONTINUE READING

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  1. Dr. B is simply doing the bidding of his lords and masters, who have bought his soul and tucked it away in a safe deposit box.
    Dr. B is incapable of examining the science of climate change and reach an independent assessment of the dangers and what needs to be done to save us from outselves. Instead, everything is filtered through his need for campaign donations and the certainty that if he ever goes off message, he’ll be abandoned by Big Coal and Big Energy.
    What’s ironic is that Dr. B is ostensibly a man of science, who has the intellect and skills in the scientific method to assertain the truth of the matter. Unfortunately, the truth is that climate change is real, the power of energy corporations is near absolute and Dr. B’s children will NOT be immune to the future disasters of climate change, no matter how much wealth Dr. B makes.

    Reply