Archive for the ‘Studies’ Category

The Obama Energy Agenda

Less Supply, More Regulations and Higher Prices
for American Consumers

Before Wall Street’s implosion and the sharp economic downturn, energy policy dominated the headlines on the Presidential campaign trail. An overwhelming majority of Americans demanded access to offshore energy resources to help increase supplies and lower prices for everything from gas at the pump to groceries [...]

Synopsis of the Energy Plans of Presidential Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain

Synopsis (104KB)
Introduction
Energy is the lifeblood of our economy. The United States, with less than 5% of the world’s population, uses about 25% of the world’s energy and creates nearly 30% of the world’s economic input. The productivity gained from U.S. energy consumption is a major contributor not only to our quality of life, [...]

Comparison of Obama and McCain’s Energy and Environmental Plans

Synopsis (104KB)

Complete Analysis (60KB)
The following comparison of Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s energy and environmental plans comes from the statements of their plans on their official web sites. The text first indicates what the respective plans say on each topic, and then provides IER’s analysis of each topic within the program.
Table of Contents

CAFE
Advanced Vehicle R&D
Electricity [...]

Flaws in the Economic Analysis of California’s AB 32 Scoping Plan

On Friday, October 3, the California Air Resources Board is scheduled to formally release its Scoping Plan pursuant to AB 32, the “California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.” AB 32 calls for the state of California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. One of the primary means to achieve [...]

U.S. Petroleum Refining: Let the Market Function

Robert Bradley (President) & Thomas Tanton (Senior Fellow),
Institute for Energy Research
December 19, 2005
Executive Summary
U.S. petroleum refining experienced an unprecedented disruption when a tight crude-oil market was joined by major infrastructure damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Suddenly, less supply was available to meet strong demand, and prices spiked for petroleum products, particularly gasoline.
The price [...]

Estimating the Tax Burden and Economic Impact from the Proposed “Gang of Ten” Revenue Offsets

by Andrew Chamberlain
Fiscal Economics, Inc.
Commissioned by the Institute for Energy Research (IER)
September 2008

PDF (248KB)
Abstract
The recently released “Gang of Ten” energy proposal includes revenue offsets that would exclude domestic oil and gas companies from the Section 199 deduction for domestic production activity. Using a simple input-output model, we estimate the state-by-state impact of this proposal on [...]

“Don’t Know Much About Energy”

IER analyzes energy ‘plan’ proposed by the Speaker of the House

On Saturday, August 16, the Speaker of the House delivered a radio address focused on energy issues. The following analyzes some of the claims and proposal outlined by the Speaker in that address.
THE SPEAKER: “Over the past few months alone, Republicans have voted down [...]

Offshore Oil Production Estimate Illustrates Flaws in Forecasting

Politicians have a knack for citing statistics that support their positions. Those who are opposed to increasing domestic supplies of energy are especially adept at citing statistics that make it seem as though it is “not worth it.” Government reports, while not all wrong, can be rife with such statistics.
Recently, for example, some [...]

Subsidizing American Energy: A Breakdown By Source

by Mary Hutzler

American taxpayers footed a $16.6 billion bill for energy subsidies, tax breaks, loan guarantees, and the like in 2007 alone, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). That’s more than double the Federal subsidy level from eight years earlier. 
In fact, on an energy fuel basis, Congress has increased subsidies for [...]

EPA Staff’s Attempt to Regulate Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act

PDF version (69KB)
“An unprecedented expansion of EPA authority.” – EPA Administrator Johnson
Explaining EPA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Greenhouse Gases

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that is it well on its way to regulating at least 85 percent of the energy used in America in the name of global warming (nevermind the [...]