How Rich Rockefellers Battle the People’s Pipeline – April 21, 2013
Americans concerned about gasoline prices were encouraged by the Pew Research Center’s new poll, whose headline blared, “Keystone XL Pipeline draws broad support.” A score box showed 63% supporting and only 23% opposing the pipeline that would transport oil from Canada’s vast Alberta oil sands deposits through the Plains states to Texas refineries.

EI for Seasonal Workers is a Corrosive Economic Policy – April 8, 2013
There is no justification, in logic or in economics, for seasonal EI, and the dogged pursuit of this policy flies in the face of the interests of Canada and people who become trapped in the cycle of working seasonally and then receiving EI benefits while unemployed. Some day a politician will have the guts to say so, but apparently not today.

Important Questions for Obama Nominees – April 3, 2013
In his second inaugural address, President Obama pledged to address “the threat of climate change” because no one can avoid “the devastating impact of raging fires, crippling droughts and more powerful storms.” The President had said nothing about climate change during his reelection campaign –because that would have reminded millions of voters that he is committed to replacing hydrocarbons with expensive renewable energy and ensuring that electricity and gasoline prices skyrocket.

Auditor General Slams Carbon Offset System – April 3, 2013
British Columbia (BC) is a beautiful place – as anyone who has visited Vancouver or Whistler will attest. Unfortunately, it sometimes suffers from an exaggerated view of its own importance. With a population of only 4.5 million (one seventh of Canada’s total, and one eighth the size of California), this province thinks that demonstrating global climate leadership should be one of its top priorities.

Pipeline or not, lots of Canadian crude oil is headed to the US – April 2, 2013
Environmentalists mistakenly think that blocking the Keystone pipeline will prevent crude oil, derived from Canada’s oil sands, from being extracted and from being conveyed into the US to be refined into gasoline, asphalt, and other products that are important to the transportation and manufacturing sectors. Their ultimate goal is to stop all development of the Canadian resource.

Marissa Mayer's Misstep And The Unstoppable Rise Of Telecommuting – April 1, 2013
The real issue is how we deal with three concerns: the promotion of families; humane methods to reduce greenhouse gases; and, finally, how to expand the geography of work and opportunity.

Eco-Imperialism Joins Vulture Environmentalism – March 25, 2013
Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s choice to replace Lisa Jackson at the Environmental Protection Agency, has been chastised for having lied to Congress, in claiming that EPA did not use “dangerous manmade climate change” to justify new 54.5 mpg standards for cars and light trucks. She’s also been implicated in the agency’s practice of using fake emails to hide questionable dealings and activities.

Sydney to Abandon Radical Urban Containment Policy – March 20, 2013
The New South Wales government has proposed a new Metropolitan Strategy for the Sydney area which would significantly weaken the urban containment policy (also called urban consolidation, smart growth, livability, growth management, densification, etc.) that has driven if house prices to among the highest in the affluent New World (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) relative to household incomes.

Our Real Manmade Climate Crisis – March 6, 2013
In his first address as Secretary of State, John Kerry said we must safeguard “the most sacred trust” we owe to our children and grandchildren: “an environment not ravaged by rising seas, deadly superstorms, devastating droughts, and the other hallmarks of a dramatically changing climate.”

How to Waste Tax Money: Buy Canadian – February 25, 2013
The way we buy equipment for our military is badly broken. Ottawa’s latest report on how to fix it proposes making it even worse.

Climate Fear-Mongers’ Blind Faith in Suspect and Shoddy Science – February 21, 2013
If only environmental policy were based on what science really says, billions of dollars would not have been wasted trying to “contain climate change,” as 350.org nonsensically demanded of President Obama this past weekend.

Real Sustainability Versus Activist Sustainability – February 8, 2013
Companies everywhere extol their sustainable development programs and goals. Sustainability drives UN programs like Agenda 21, EU and US green energy initiatives, and myriad manufacturing, agricultural, forestry and other efforts. But what is sustainability? What is – or isn’t – sustainable?

Life Without a Microwave – February 6, 2013
Last week, my family’s microwave broke down after 15 years of faithful service. That incident might sound trivial to you. I’m sure it is trivial to you. But it made me aware of how valuable a microwave has been to us. And our week without a microwave taught me a lot about the value of microwaves—and can teach us more generally about the value of economic freedom.

Desperately trying to derail Canadian oil sands – February 1, 2013
The Alberta-to-Texas pipeline would create more than 5,500 Nebraska jobs during its construction period and support 1,000 permanent jobs through 2030. During the project’s lifetime, KXL would generate $950 million in labor income, $130 million in property, sales and other state and local taxes, and $679 million for the state’s gross domestic product, by bringing Canadian oil sands petroleum to Texas refineries.

Safety Seats on Planes Don’t Necessarily Make Kids Safer – January 22, 2013
As every mom or dad knows, infants travelling by car must be firmly strapped into a government-tested, properly installed (and often maddeningly complicated) car seat. Failure on this account can earn you a hefty fine and demerit points. Flying with your kids, on the other hand, is a whole other matter.

The Carbon Trading Money Tree – January 21, 2013
The COP-18 environmental conference held in Doha has come and gone. In the wake of high expectations for a successor treaty, the Kyoto Protocol was extended, but only after bitter debate – and several countries have withdrawn from the process or signalled their intent to do so.

Trampling on People, Environment, Science and Ethics – January 15, 2013
Policy integrity. Ethical culture. Environmental protection. Environmental defense. Friends of earth. Defenders of wildlife. Ethical investing. Not just their names, but their charter, culture and policies – their very being – represent a commitment to these profound values. Or so we are supposed to believe.

Back From the Brink of Extinction – December 21, 2012
The last woods bison in the United States was apparently shot by a hunter in West Virginia around 1835. For many decades, the woods bison was presumed extinct – until an airplane spotted an isolated herd in the muskeg swamps north of Alberta, Canada. I was delighted to actually see another herd of the nearly extinct animals calmly munching on hay – right in the middle of the oil sands mining project in northern Alberta, which I visited a few weeks ago. Much of this oil is destined for the USA, to reduce imports from dictatorships, and more will come in the Keystone XL Pipeline, if President Obama ever approves it.

Obama’s Walt Disney energy policies – December 12, 2012
President Obama and the radical environmentalists who helped him win a second term seem to believe that, if only they wish hard enough, they can make the sun, wind, waves, algae and fields of corn replace fossil fuels as the world’s primary energy sources.

United in Dependence – December 10, 2012
Imagine that you have a pile of money and several kids. Some of those kids work hard and are quite self-sufficient. Some of them, on the other hand, just never quite seem able to look after themselves. Because you’re rich and you believe all your kids deserve a similar standard of living, you pay the ne’er-do-wells a good allowance accompanied by lots of well-meaning admonitions to try and harder and make something of themselves.