Common Resources

The IMF Takes on Energy Subsidies

It has long and widely been accepted that subsidies that promote the production and consumption of energy – thereby disguising its real cost to society – do little to benefit mankind. On the output side, second-guessing the market distorts firms’ decisions about optimal investment strategies. Among users, access to below-cost energy encourages waste, with environmental [...]

Pipeline Safety and Keystone XL

The Premier of Alberta is in town promoting the Keystone XL pipeline. She fielded questions at the Brookings Institution, and regarding a question referring to last month’s spill in Arkansas said ”these are very isolated incidents, and they don’t happen as often as people might suggest that they could.” There are plenty of data on pipeline spills which [...]

Paying Ecuador to Protect the Rainforest

A recent episode of NPR’s Planet Money discussed Ecuador’s proposed solution to a national dilemma: the fact that a massive oil discovery and a national park happen to be in the same place. Ecuador’s proposal is to forswear drilling – but only if other countries donate half the value of the oil in aid (about $3.6 [...]

An Economic View of Sen. Murkowski’s Blueprint

Today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) released her long-anticipated energy policy “blueprint.” Murkowski is a relatively centrist Republican and has historically made energy policy a priority. This makes her one of the most important votes in Congress on energy, and the blueprint is therefore worth a close look—it is an important indicator of what is possible [...]

The Jefferson Memorial, from Space

A set of NASA images from the Suomi polar-orbiting satellite has been getting some traffic today, driven by an article by Radiolab co-host Robert Krulwich. It shows bright lights from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, looking like a metropolis where maps show little settlement. The images are very cool, especially for energy/infrastructure nerds. There’s obvious points to [...]

Energy Independence – What Then? (Part Four: The Environment)

This post is the last in a four-part series on energy independence and its significance (or insignificance)  See below for links to all four posts. Note also that while earlier posts in this series were jointly authored with Roger Sedjo, this post represents only the views of its author - ed. As we’ve explained in earlier [...]

Energy Independence – What Then? (Part Three: The Broad Goal of North American Energy Independence)

This post is the third in a four-part series on energy independence and its significance (or insignificance)  See below for links to all four posts. - ed. In its recently-issued World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA) underscored the likelihood and significance of North America becoming “a net oil exporter around 2030.” Here, we ponder [...]

Energy Independence – What Then? (Part Two: Benefits—but Lurking Uncertainties)

This post is the second in a four-part series on energy independence and its significance (or insignificance)  - ed. See the first post here. International Energy Agency (IEA) projections show the US overtaking Saudi Arabia as the world’s lead oil producer and, in the light of Canada’s oil sands production, North America becoming a net oil [...]

Energy Independence – What Then? (Part One: The Centrality of Oil)

This post is the first in a four-part series on energy independence and its significance (or insignificance)  - ed. See the second post here. “By around 2020, the United States is projected to become the [world’s] largest oil producer…” so states the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its World Energy Outlook 2012, issued Nov. 12 [...]

BP Settles – But the Story is Far from Over

Reports of a $4.5b settlement between BP and the federal government over criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill have emerged today. If the reports are correct, the settlement will be the largest criminal settlement in U.S. history. The criminal settlement in the Exxon Valdez disaster was only $150m, of which $125m was immediately [...]