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Energy and Environment
Research & Commentary: Renewable Fuel Standard Update
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel standard (RFS), created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and expanded in 2007 through the Energy Independence and Security Act, requires 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into gasoline and diesel fuel by 2022. In this Research & Commentary, Heartland Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans and former Policy Analyst Taylor Smith argue with the current boom in domestic oil and natural gas production due to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies, which have tremendous carbon reduction capacity of their own, renewable fuel mandates have become a solution in search of a problem.Read More
Energy and Environment
Jessica Sena: Effects of Drilling “Setback” Regulations
In this edition of The Heartland Institute’s Daily Podcast, Research Fellow Isaac Orr speaks with Jessica Sena, communications director at the Montana Petroleum Association. On the podcast they discuss the impact of drilling setback regulations, among other topics. The drilling setbacks may sound reasonable to the average citizen, but Sena says they have profound negative consequences for energy production in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency released a study that concludes fracking does not impact drinking water and that incidences of contamination are rare compared to the number of wells drilled. Listen Here
Education
Scholars Reject College Board’s AP History Standards
In April, 55 academic historians met in response to the College Board’s recent overhaul of its Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) standards. At the meeting, they drafted an open letter in response to the AP history framework rewrite. The primary message of the open letter was the framework for the AP History exam has been dramatically changed in ways certain to have negative consequences. Joseph F. Kett, a professor at the University of Virginia and one of the historians who drafted the open letter, stated, “As far as I can determine, the AP course does not require students to master specific historical information.” Read More
Health Care
Medicaid Set to Overwhelm New Mexico’s Budget
New Mexico is one of 28 states that expanded Medicaid coverage for impoverished adults as part of its implementation of Obamacare, resulting in more than 216,000 people joining the state’s Medicaid roster and pushing the total to nearly 800,000 enrollees. In this Heartlander article, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans examines how New Mexico will need to change its budget in order to accommodate rapidly expanding Medicaid spending. Read More
Budget and Tax
Research & Commentary: Delaware Estate Tax Repeal
Few taxes are more controversial than the estate tax, popularly referred to as the “death tax.” Death taxes are levies on property transferred from a deceased person’s estate to relatives or other parties. Legislators are currently considering repealing Delaware’s death tax, arguing it has cost the state more revenue than it has created because it is driving wealthy residents and their high-income tax payments out of the state. In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans argues death taxes are a form of double taxation that stifles investment and entrepreneurship, reduces economic growth, discourages saving, increases the cost of capital, raises interest rates, and brings in relatively little revenue. Read More
From Our Free-Market Friends
Bellevue Annual Dinner 2015
Washington Policy Center’s Bellevue Annual Dinner boasts one of the largest policy events in the country, with its gala attracting more than 2,000 elected officials, business leaders, community members, and policymakers from throughout the Pacific Northwest. This year’s gala will be held at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue on Thursday, October 15th at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss this exciting event! Register Here
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