The Heartland Institute

With transportation coffers barely able to maintain highways, let alone adding new capacity to relieve congestion, many transportation economists and urban planners have concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion is to implement variable pricing on all congested freeways. At the same time, many political scientists ...

With transportation coffers barely able to maintain highways, let alone adding new capacity to relieve congestion, many transportation economists and urban planners have concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion is to implement variable pricing on all congested freeways. At the same time, many political scientists ...

Hydraulic fracturing has enabled profitable extraction of oil and gas in diverse areas of the country. As a result, many states sitting atop the country’s shale formations are reconsidering the way they tax these resources, to fill budget holes. Many of these debates are occurring in states with unconventional deposits and where ...

The recent discovery of vast deposits of oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock formations has revolutionized our nation’s short-term, mid-term, and long-term energy outlook. For example, proven natural gas reserves in the United States rose by 40 percent between 2004 and 2009. At the same time, new technological advancements ...

The current economic environment of low—virtually zero—interest rates has hit savers hard, but the US Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy is actually having a stabilizing effect on the economy. Abruptly raising interest rates could harm economic growth and the housing market. Until the economy stabilizes enough that ...

Executive Summary Following the passage of “Chemicals of Concern” legislation in Maine, Washington, and California, several states are considering adopting similar statutes. Although everyone supports reasonable measures aimed at protecting human health and the environment, these particular efforts are ill-considered and unnecessary ...

As the February deadline approached for states to submit No Child Left Behind waiver applications to the U.S. Department of Education, some states decided to reject the offer or delay their applications, citing the expense of waiver requirements. The DOE announced in September 2011 it would waive some of the law’s requirements ...

This report is the summary of extensive research that examined the criticism that has been leveled over the past three years at the national efforts to improve intercity passenger rail and introduce true high-speed passenger rail in the United States. In the course of this research it has been heartening to discover that there ...

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) and federal officials are negotiating proposals to relocate dozens or perhaps hundreds of bison from Yellowstone National Park as an alternative to slaughtering the iconic animals. As the Yellowstone bison population has grown in recent decades, increasing numbers of bison are leaving the park ...

At least eight states have implemented de facto regulations on chemicals they deem “hazardous” by creating “chemicals of concern” lists. Proponents claim the lists are necessary to protect consumers from potentially hazardous chemicals in products, and they argue a lack of federal regulations means states must step in. Opponents ...

While governors of most states are deciding whether to implement or resist President Obama’s health care law, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is looking to do something completely different: bringing a Canadian-style single-payer system on his state. The details of the Democrat Schweitzer’s plan are not clear, and he has not submitted ...

Record high levels of unemployment and record low reserve funds have placed great pressure on the federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) tax and benefit system. Between 2008 and 2011, $174 billion was paid in unemployment taxes while $450 billion was paid out in benefits, a gap of $276 billion. In 2011 alone, employers and ...

With an increasing number of state legislatures and officials declining to create the health exchanges mandated by President Obama’s law, the Obama administration has presented a partnership proposal in an attempt to make them reconsider. Marguerite Salazar, a regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ...

Problem: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), sometimes referred to as "Obamacare," requires states to establish and operate health insurance exchanges by 2014. States that create their own exchange must comply with federal requirements, and the exchange must be approved by the secretary of the Department of ...

The skyrocketing costs caused by Medicaid’s fee-for-service approach have states struggling to meet their government budgets, and access to quality health care is becoming scarcer. In hopes of improving access and reducing costs, many states are considering turning to managed care. Under a managed care system, health care providers ...

Warning labels are not enough, according to the Montana Supreme Court, which upheld a verdict by a pitcher against a manufacturer of aluminum baseball bats. Baseballs are said to “come off” aluminum bats faster, and many say they have a larger “sweet spot” and “more power.” While pitching in an American Legion game, a boy ...

Dissatisfied with the pace of No Child Left Behind reauthorization in Congress, the Department of Education announced it will waive some of the law’s penalties for individual states, provided the states make unspecified policy changes in return. Montana has already received a waiver, after declaring it would ignore NCLB requirements ...

The Keystone XL Project is an approximately 1,661-mile pipeline expansion project that will transport crude oil from Canadian oil sands to U.S. refining markets. The pipeline, three feet in diameter, would extend from Alberta, Canada to Texas, tapping into existing pipeline infrastructure in Nebraska and Oklahoma. TransCanada Keystone ...

Tobacco use poses well-known health risks. Smokers, on average, die earlier than nonsmokers. Estimates of lost life expectancy range from two or three years to 14 years; most researchers agree on six to eight years. A 2004 Surgeon General’s report concluded that smoking contributes to at least 16 potentially fatal conditions ...

Teachers receive job evaluations much like workers in other professions; except the “satisfactory” rates for teaching usually lie somewhere in the high 90th percentiles, according to an Education Next study. Meanwhile, even higher percentages of students fall behind in school. This casts great doubt on the validity of teacher ...