The Transportation and Climate Initiative is All Pain and No Gain!
A new study by 34-year EPA veteran Dr. David Schnare, Director of the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s Center for Environmental Stewardship, demonstrates that the proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative would be “All Pain and No Gain” for Virginians.
New ‘Carbon Car Tax’ Bad for Virginia
The proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) — a new “Carbon Car Tax” would be bad for Virginia, according to a new analysis by the Thomas Jefferson Institute. Starting at 10 cents extra per gallon of gas (and rising in future years), the tax would reduce money set aside for road repair, safety and new […]
The Virginia Attorney General Joins in Scam Threatening Free Speech
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a federal law enacted in the early 1970’s that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The law was targeted at “Racketeering” activity, which includes things like murder, extortion, robbery, drug dealing or trafficking, money laundering, embezzlement, and bribery. Its purpose is to ensure that both the murderer and the boss that ordered the murder are both punished. All that is required is a “predicate crime” such as murder, and a conspiracy to conduct the crime.
Energy Truth, Honesty and Justice
Don’t Google “Energy Justice” and think you will find any there. Forget “Energy Ethics” and leave “Energy Truth” alone. In a normal world these shorthand terms should take you to discussions on the relationship of energy to poverty and the injustice of policies that impose relatively greater burdens on the poor and disposed than they […]
Demanding the Impossible
Virginians care about the health of their rivers and streams. The Commonwealth has long been an active partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in implementing the Clean Water Act. Lately, however, the state roles and the federal roles have become confused and nowhere is this a bigger problem than where a federal court orders […]
Protecting Federalism and State Sovereignty Through anti-Commandeering Legislation
Unfunded federal mandates are a growing problem for states and an even larger problem for local governments. The Jefferson Institute and the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic at George Mason University prepared a legal “Nutshell” on how to challenge these unfunded mandates. The bottom line of this report is that the federal government may not […]
Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Leadership
Governor Bob McDonnell recently announced significant progress in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. We applaud his leadership and that of his appointees managing this effort. Among Virginia’s accomplishments is a massive reduction of nutrients going into the Bay from farms and fields. What is particularly pleasing to see is that these farm-related reductions are far […]
Earth Day 2012 – Life is Good!
So, environmentally speaking, how are we doing on Earth Day? Do you think you are better off than you were 42 years ago? Hint, we celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970, 42 years ago. Well, you are. Indeed, our environmental progress has been massive, and if you’d like to take a look at the […]
EPA and its Arrogance
In 1874, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote: “The military engineers of the Commission have taken upon their shoulders the job of making the Mississippi over again – a job transcended in size by only the original job of creating it.” The Mississippi River is 2,320 miles long. Maintaining it is a continuous job that has required […]
The Jefferson Journal: Why I Want Michael Mann’s Emails
Some argue that the emails of University of Virginia professor Michael Mann should be protected from public release on the grounds that to do otherwise would “chill” the work of scientists and academics. Others argue that Mann is doing nothing more than trying to keep secrets and let no one know what he did and […]