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Energy and Environmental Policy (E2P) at the Independence Institute

By all measures, life is better. Because of our ability to safely, responsibly and efficiently develop natural resources, our standard of living is up, life expectancy is up, and our environment is cleaner. Individuals prosper while also enjoying a healthy planet. If we create an atmosphere where human potential flourishes and we dare to imagine, then everyone can reap the benefits of affordable, reliable, abundant, and safe power and revel in the beauty of a thriving environment.

Our Vision

Access to affordable, reliable, abundant, safe energy and a clean environment are not mutually exclusive. At E2P we envision a Colorado where every person is in control of his or her own energy and environmental destiny. Private property owners are in the best position to protect their land and environment, and the choice of energy resources and how they are utilized should come from the demands of an innovative and free market.

What is the role of government? To remain neutral, let markets work, let individuals innovate, limit regulations, and refrain from picking winners and losers.

Our Principles

  • People first
  • Celebrate prosperity
  • Innovation over regulation
  • Commonsense conservation
  • Primacy of private property rights
  • Results over rhetoric
  • Reject cynicism

 

Free Market Energy and Environmental Policy

  • Embraces our entrepreneurial spirit and optimism that we can have affordable power, responsible domestic energy development, and a clean environment.
  • Puts individuals in the driver’s seat and allows them to control their own energy future.
  • Lets the choice of energy resources come from the demands of the free market, and not from the preferences of policymakers, lobbyists, or special interest groups.
  • Champions private property rights.
  • Challenges the 80-year-old, monopoly utility model of electricity generation and distribution.
  • Puts states ahead of Washington, D.C.
  • Encourages limited and consistent regulations.
  • Rejects taxpayer funded subsidies.
  • Doesn’t pick winners and losers.
  • Welcomes transparency.

 

Latest Posts

  • Colorado PUC Trims Xcel’s Unprecedented Renewables Plan

    Colorado PUC Trims Xcel’s Unprecedented Renewables Plan

    • December 21, 2023

    Ratepayer interests received a small win from Colorado regulators overseeing Xcel Energy’s latest resource plan. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) pared back Xcel’s $15 billion request to build wind, solar, batteries, and new transmission lines by around $3 billion last week. The PUC’s trimming of Xcel’s request came as it approved an alternative resource

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  • Country’s First ‘Enhanced’ Geothermal Plant Comes Online

    Country’s First ‘Enhanced’ Geothermal Plant Comes Online

    • December 13, 2023

    Enhanced geothermal electricity is now a reality in the United States. Late last month marked a new breakthrough in next-generation clean energy technology. Fervo Energy, a Houston-based geothermal project developer, announced that its first commercial “enhanced” geothermal plant went online and began producing usable electricity in Nevada. According to a Canary Media report: A next-generation geothermal

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  • Bootleggers, Baptists, and the Clean Energy Transition

    Bootleggers, Baptists, and the Clean Energy Transition

    • December 8, 2023

    Independence Institute has a long track record of warning against the unhealthy incentives that can arise from the relationship between monopoly electric utilities and green policymakers. Once viewed as rivals of one another, the two sides realized a few years back that coexisting as fellow travelers on the road to the so-called clean energy transition

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  • Green Industrial Policy Faces Threats of its Own Creation

    Green Industrial Policy Faces Threats of its Own Creation

    • November 27, 2023

    The early supply-side sugar high induced by a raft of clean energy-related subsidies is starting to show signs of wearing off. From electric vehicle makers to offshore wind developers, producers spurred along by the Biden administration’s ambitious green energy goals and lavish tax incentives have suddenly been forced to confront pesky market forces that have started to cool

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  • Colorado’s Quixotic Push to Boost Recycling Rates

    Colorado’s Quixotic Push to Boost Recycling Rates

    • November 20, 2023

    Colorado’s environmental watchdogs are back with their latest report on the state’s progress in boosting recycling, and the results are about what you would expect. The Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG), the state chapter of the Ralph Nader-founded liberal advocacy organization, released the 2023 edition of its “State of Recycling and Composting in Colorado”

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  • AQCC: In Less Than a Decade, 82% of Car Sales Must Be Electric

    AQCC: In Less Than a Decade, 82% of Car Sales Must Be Electric

    • October 23, 2023

    The Polis administration intends, by hook or by crook, to see the electric vehicle industry succeed. Last Friday, unelected regulators on the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) voted to adopt the so-called Colorado Clean Cars standard. The new regulations, which would more aptly be named the California-lite Clean Cars standard, largely replicate the California Air

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