The Heartland Institute

Obama Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters “no one knows” how high gasoline prices might go, and declined to rule out the possibility of $9-per-gallon gasoline, the Washington Examiner reports. “Where it all will end, no one knows,” said Salazar.Salazar attempted to deflect the Obama administration’s responsibility for ...

A lobbyist whose clients benefited from Florida H.B. 7117, the Crony Energy Bill, is quoted in the Lakeland Ledger as saying the just-completed Florida legislative session was the “best session” for his clients in a long time because votes on important issues “flew under the radar.” H.B. 7117 gives a staggering $100 million ...

Federal energy policies designed to rid the nation of traditional incandescent light bulbs continue to encounter popular resistance, with South Carolina’s legislature considering its own unique act of defiance. Intrastate Bulbs Considered Lawmakers in Columbia are pondering a proposed “Incandescent Light Bulb Freedom Act,” a measure ...

What constitutes an affordable “green” light bulb? According to the U.S. Department of Energy, $50 per light bulb is our most promising future. No Likely Market The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a $10 million prize to Philips, a Dutch electronics company that is one of the leading manufacturers of light bulbs sold ...

States that have imposed renewable power mandates during recent years are seeing electricity prices rise dramatically, reports a newly published study by the nonpartisan Manhattan Institute. The rising electricity prices are most dramatic in seven coal-producing states that have nevertheless “diversified” their electricity with renewable ...

Green jobs programs enacted by various states are causing economic harm on an economy-wide basis that outweighs the limited economic benefits within the “green” energy sector, according to a newly published study by the nonpartisan State Budget Solutions. Job Destruction Outweighs Creation The report, Green Jobs Don’t Grow on Trees ...

Opposition is growing to Florida House Bill 7117, which would give millions in taxpayers subsidies to Solyndra-style renewable energy companies, impose new obstacles on the construction of power plans utilizing inexpensive fuel sources like coal and natural gas, and authorize local governments to put taxpayers on the hook for ...

Oil production in North Dakota has surged to more than a half million barrels of oil per day, with the oil production in the Peace Garden State now surpassing that of OPEC member Ecuador. North Dakota’s 6,300 wells now produce enough oil to displace U.S. imports from foreign suppliers such as Iraq and Colombia, according ...

The federal government spent over $33 billion on energy and environmental projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and state governments also literally bought in to the green hype. Many states have pushed green growth even harder than the Obama administration. State Budget Solutions examined what actions states ...

Energy Secretary Steven Chu told congressmen this week that lowering gasoline prices is not a goal of the Obama administration. During Tuesday congressional hearings, Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) asked Chu, “is the overall goal to get our price” of gasoline down. Responded Chu, “No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency ...

The alternative energy industry has found a reliable benefactor in the form of the Iowa legislature, which between 2003 and 2010 gave most of the state’s economic development subsidies to biofuel firms. New Caps Imposed Tina Hoffman, marketing and communications director for the Iowa Economic Development Authority, confirmed the ...

Review of The Audacity of Freedom , by Dennis Hedke (Tate Publishing, 2011), 268 pages, ISBN- 978-1613464083 Dennis Hedke is a skillful geophysicist with considerable knowledge of energy resources and a fiery desire to take back our country from our current leaders. He is currently serving in the Kansas State Legislature. His ...

Natural gas should play an important role in the nation’s clean energy future, said Chris Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Natural Gas in the Office of Fossil Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy, at the Energy, Utility & Environment Conference in Phoenix. Shale gas recovered through hydraulic fracturing (fracking ...

The Spanish government has announced it is halting subsidies for renewable energy projects. Once held up by U.S. President Barack Obama as a role model for the U.S. energy economy, Spain says it can no longer afford to dump money into renewable energy projects that are not providing reliable energy and are not living up ...

BP, an energy company that won praise from environmental activists after adopting the slogan “Beyond Petroleum” while investing heavily in solar power, is shutting down its 40-year-old solar business after executives decided solar power production is not economically competitive. The company had been scaling back its BP Solar operations ...

Chinese solar power companies reported larger-than-expected losses in the third quarter of 2011, with few buyers lining up to purchase solar power equipment. The Chinese companies are trying to stay afloat by selling excess inventory at below-production costs, which has the Obama administration claiming the Chinese are engaging ...

The 2008 Green Communities Act (GCA) will cost Massachusetts residents more than $4 billion dollars over the next four years, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. Coakley, a Democrat, delivered her testimony before the legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Nov. 9, in hearings ...

The nation known for its iconic windmills is throwing in the towel on offshore wind power, as Dutch officials have determined the Netherlands can no longer afford large-scale subsidies for expensive wind turbines that cannot produce electricity at economically competitive prices. The decision is a powerful blow against renewable ...

North Dakota is suing Minnesota over a state law that impedes utilities from entering into new contracts to import coal-fired power from other states. North Dakota officials say the Minnesota law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause, while Minnesota officials claim it does not improperly discriminate against ...

U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantees for BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah solar power project may suffer the same fate as loan guarantees for the failed Solyndra company, government watchdogs fear. Of even greater concern, the BrightSource loan guarantees total $1.6 billion, triple the taxpayer dollars lost in Solyndra. Financial ...