Energy & Environment: Markey Wants Answers on Rare Earths
• Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., "is pressing the Obama administration for information about alleged Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals used in defense and energy technologies, warning of threats to U.S. interests," The Hill reports.
• "Three months after BP capped its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico, the state of Louisiana is still building a chain of sand berms off its coast to block and capture oil even as federal officials and many scientists argue that the effort will prove pointless," the New York Times reports.
• An Idaho couple has "sued the state to stop the shipments by Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips" to an oil sands site in Canada, "arguing that the" truck loads delivered there "would threaten the integrity of Idaho's historic portion of U.S. 12, as well as the safety of communities that depend on it as the main road in and out of the area," the Times also reports. "National environmental groups and climate change activists are supporting their efforts, seeing a broader opportunity to stall development of Canada's oil sands, which they denounce as a dirty source of energy. "
• "Combating climate change has long taken a back seat to coal production in West Virginia, but in the hard-fought House race in this state's 1st district, global warming hasn't even made it onto the bus," The Hill reports. "In interviews on Thursday, both the Democratic and Republican nominees for Congress voiced skepticism of the science behind global warming, and the Republican, David McKinley, flatly called concerns about climate change 'an attack on coal.'"
Contributor
Bernard L. Weinstein
Biography provided by participant
Bernard L. Weinstein is Associate Director of the Maguire Energy Institute and an Adjunct Professor of Business Economics in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. From 1989 to 2009 he was Director of the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas where he is now an emeritus professor of applied economics.
Dr. Weinstein studied public administration at Dartmouth College and received his A.B. in 1963. After a year of study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he began graduate work in economics at Columbia University, receiving an M.A. in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1973.
He has taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the State University of New York, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of North Texas. He has been a research associate with the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Gray Institute in Beaumont, Texas. He has worked for several U.S. government agencies including the President's Commission on School Finance, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Trade Commission.
Dr. Weinstein has authored or co-authored numerous books, monographs and articles on the subjects of economic development, energy security, public policy and taxation, and his work has appeared in professional journals such as Land Economics, Challenge, Society, Policy Review, Economic Development Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, and Annals of Regional Science. His op-eds have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Investor's Business Daily, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times and a number of regional newspapers and magazines. He is also a regular contributor to The Hill and the National Journal's Energy and Environment blog.
Dr. Weinstein has been a consultant to many companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies, and he testifies frequently before legislative, regulatory and judicial bodies. His clients have included AT&T, Texas Instruments, Reliant, Entergy, Devon Energy, Energy Futures Holdings, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Western and Southern Governors Associations, the Cities of Dallas and San Antonio, and the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.
Dr. Weinstein was director of federal affairs for the Southern Growth Policies Board from 1978 to 1980 and served as director of the Task Force on the Southern Economy of the 1980 Commission on the Future of the South. From 1984 to 1987 he was chairman of the Texas Economic Policy Advisory Council and from 1987 to 1988 served as visiting scholar with the Sunbelt Institute in Washington, D.C. He is currently a panelist with the Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast. Dr. Weinstein is a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association for Business Economics and serves on the boards of directors of Beal Bank Texas and Beal Bank USA. Since 2012 he has been an Associate of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies at SMU and a Fellow of the George W. Bush Institute.
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