TPPF: Clean Power Plan Final Rule Seizes Sweeping Power Over Electricity

Today the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Distinguished Senior Fellow-in-Residence and Director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment Kathleen Hartnett White, Director of the Center for the American Future Rob Henneke, and TPPF’s Fueling Freedom Project Director Doug Domenech issued the following statements on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of the Clean Power Plan final rule.

Press Release August 3, 2015

TPPF economist: NAFTA helped diversify Texas economy, softened oil price shocks

The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Economist Dr. Vance Ginn in the Center for Fiscal Policy, and Economist Dr. Travis Roach in the Department of Economics at the University of Central Oklahoma, co-authored the peer-reviewed academic article “An Oil-Producing State’s Ability to Cope after a Regional Free Trade Agreement—The Case of Texas and NAFTA” published in The International Trade Journal. The study examines the potential economic effects of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the state of Texas. Their results suggest that that NAFTA helped Texas’ economy be more resilient to oil price fluctuations and other U.S. economic disruptions.

Press Release July 30, 2015

TPPF: Proposed “International Traffic in Arms Regulations” violate First Amendment

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) filed a comment with the U.S. State Department on a proposed revision to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which threatens to outlaw a broad swath of the Internet. The revision would require anyone wishing to discuss technology necessary for the manufacture, operation, or development of a weapon to apply for a license before publishing it online.  Failure to do so could result in up to 20 years’ incarceration and a fine of $1 million per violation. The rule would affect discussion on a civilian level, including discussion of engines, boat propellers, microchips, metallurgy, and basic engineering principles.

Press Release July 29, 2015