Common Resources

Cataloging Shale Gas Risks

Analyzing and evaluating environmental risks from shale gas development is difficult - not least because there seems to be little agreement about what those risks are. As part of a major RFF/Sloan Foundation research project, scholars with RFF’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy have attempted to address this gap with a new “risk matrix” […]

Unintended Consequences of a Clean Energy Standard

Last week the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee held hearings on the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012, a bill introduced by Senator Bingaman (D-NM) along with several co-sponsors. The bill was endorsed by the Washington Post in a recent on-line editorial. There is much to like about the proposal, but our analysis shows […]

A Look Back at Rio 1992

Twenty years ago, in a chapter of an RFF book (Global Development and the Environment: Perspectives on Sustainability, 1992 - now available for the low price of $1.75!), I tried to sort out some of the global energy issues then confronting the approaching 1992 Rio United Nations Conference on Development and Environment (UNCED). With leaders […]

NEPA, Fracking, and Natural Gas Exports

Another post in Common Resources series on natural gas exports. For an overview of the issue, see my introductory post. For economic analysis, see Joel Darmstader and Alan Krupnick’s post, and follow up. Should the federal government deny permits to export natural gas because it may lead to increased fracking? The Sierra Club thinks so—or at […]

Natural Gas Exports and the “Manufacturing Renaissance”

As Alan Krupnick and Joel Darmstader pointed out in a recent post, one of the loudest arguments against U.S. natural gas exports is the claim that doing so will “choke off a hoped-for manufacturing renaissance” by pushing up domestic gas prices. Michael Levi punctures that argument, citing a 2009 study by Joe Aldy and Billy […]

The Economic Case for Natural Gas Exports

This is the second post in a Common Resources series on U.S. Natural Gas Exports. See Nathan Richardson’s post introducing the issue. American natural gas is historically cheap, while prices remain high elsewhere, especially in Asia. This makes exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) look very attractive. Companies have moved to take advantage of […]

Natural Gas Exports: A Common Resources Series

Suddenly, the US is a potential natural gas exporter. This post tells how that happened, and why it’s controversial. Watch this space for analysis from RFF economists on the pros and cons of this shift. Just a few years ago, strong US demand for natural gas and high prices led energy companies to build massive […]

Analysis of the Bingaman Clean Energy Standard Proposal

In the 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama discussed moving the country toward a goal of 80 percent clean electricity by 2035. One approach that has been proposed to meet this goal—as well as help reduce emissions from the electricity sector—is a clean energy standard (CES). A CES sets a minimum threshold on […]

Oil Sands, Technology, and Environmental Risks

Extraction of oil from Canada’s vast oil sands has a bad environmental reputation. It is worth noting, however, that there are two approaches to extraction, each posing different environmental challenges. On a recent trip to tour the oil sands, facilitated by the Canadian Embassy in Washington and hosted by the government of Alberta, I observed […]

Is Oil Spill Liability Useless?

Pete argued yesterday that raising or eliminating statutory caps on oil spill damages wouldn’t increase safety - as he put it, “the incentive argument is overblown.” There’s some truth to this, but I don’t agree with his conclusion. This is probably no surprise: in 2010 I recommended that spill liability caps be increased significantly, up to […]