China Ready to Ramp Up Nuclear Energy Production, U.S. Must Counter

There’s an arms race afoot in energy production, and the U.S. is at risk of falling behind. No longer are we able to rest on our laurels as the world’s number one producer of oil and gas. Thanks to global commitments to pursue a “clean energy transition”, countries like China have been able to establish […]

July 2 Colorado Energy Roundup: New Belgium signs 'Brewer's Climate Declaration'

More reaction from the ongoing Colowyo Mine saga in northwest Colorado, as Colorado Public Radio profiled residents from the community on what the possible mine closure would mean: It’s been nearly two months since a judge required the federal government to take another look at a 2007 mining plan it approved for the Colowyo Mine […]

June 25 Colorado Energy Roundup

Last week at the Steamboat Institute, Independence Institute Energy Policy Center Director Amy Oliver Cooke moderated a panel entitled “The Coming Storm of Federal Energy Regulations and Their Impact on Colorado Business”–with attorney Ray Gifford discussing the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Clean Power Plan,” Dan Byers of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce offering an explanation of […]

Obama and China: best friends 4 ever

This column appeared originally on Townhall Finance. Obama is China’s best friend By Amy Oliver Cooke and Michael Sandoval When it comes China, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Speech last month was nothing more than a rhetorical exercise from the political pied piper, who, along with his supporters, believes his own words magically […]

Congressman Coffman addresses "Rare Earths"

Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) announced today that he created a Congressional caucus to address the growing problem of China’s control over rare earth elements and “re-establishing domestic supply chain” of the must-have minerals. In a press release, Coffman explained: With the establishment of this caucus, I am confident we will be able to build awareness […]

Solar Power: economically and environmentally unsound

This column appeared originally in Townhall Finance. Solar energy is neither economically nor environmentally sound By Amy Oliver Cooke and Michael Sandoval We live in the state that is ground zero for absurd energy policy, also known as the New Energy Economy. In a recent Denver Post house editorial, Colorado’s self-described “newspaper of record” was […]

Mining for green jobs

Another day, another story about a solar company moving part of its operation to China. This time it’s Advanced Energy in Fort Collins, which will lay off 5 percent of its labor force and move “more of its manufacturing to China as it works to increase profitability,” according to the Coloradoan. Advanced Energy was one […]

China Suspends New HSR

Railway Age reports that China’s Premier Wen Jiabao has suspended “approval of new railway projects” while it investigates the recent accident that killed at least 40 people. Jiabao also said that the country would “reduce the average speed of new high speed trains at their early stage of operation.” Another report indicates that the government […]

New energy economy's dirty little secret

Former Governor  Bill Ritter and other advocates of Colorado’s “new energy economy” often use the misguided argument of breaking our dependence on foreign oil as a viable reason for their economically unsound energy policy. Just last November Ritter said: ‘Over the past few years, we’ve established a clean-energy template that is creating thousands of new jobs, […]

More on China’s High-Speed Rail

An American blogger in China makes some interesting points about China’s rail system. The country’s existing rail network is currently being used to capacity by freight (mainly coal) and conventional passenger trains. In fact, the number of passenger trains has pushed a lot of coal traffic onto trucks and highways. The high-speed rail network was […]