John Monaghan joined The Heartland Institute in June 2011 as Heartland’s energy and environment legislative specialist. John graduated with honors from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor in 2009 with an environmental studies degree where he specialized in business, law, and the environment. His studies involved extensive fieldwork researching marine protected areas in the Turks and Caicos, freshwater ecosystems in Northern Michigan, hydropower development in Chile, and climate change in the Norwegian arctic. During his final semester at the University he taught a course on pop culture and environmental thought. Upon graduation, John spent two years at the Department of Justice in the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. While there, he provided legal support on issues related to endangered species listing and critical habitat designations, sustainable fisheries, and the intersection of these issues with development. John was born and raised in metro Detroit.

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John Monaghan

The Hunger Games, Climate Change and Libertarianism

Over at Slate, Torie Bosch writes that that an underlying subtext of the Hunger Games franchise is a dystopian future induced by climate change and resource conflict. Bosch writes:

For those who have remained immune to The Hunger Games’ hype (and that’s just silly—read the books already!), Suzanne Collins’ story revolves around a cruel yearly pageant held in the country of Panem: One boy and one girl from each of 12 “districts” scattered through what used to be the United States are sent to battle to the death in a reality TV competition. Twenty-three will die; one will survive to live a life of luxury. We’re told that the games were instituted by the leaders of the Capitol, which governs Panem, to keep the district residents docile: The forced sacrifice of their children reminds them that they are allowed to live only so that they may provide the Capitol with goods and entertainment, panem et circenses.

In the first book of the trilogy, we witness the Reaping, the ceremony in which the boy and girl from each district are chosen in a brutal lottery. The mayor tells the history of Panem, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal war for what little sustenance remained. The result was Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens. Panem, then, is what happens to North America’s democracies in a post-climate-change world.

Bosch hits on what is undoubtedly a theme of the series, but what is missing from her analysis is the other side of the story. In Panem, the only way to maintain the lifestyle of elites in the Capitol is to subject the producing districts to abject poverty. District 12, the home town of series protagonists Katniss and Peeta, exists only to produce coal for the capital. While certain resources may be scarce, lying on the other side of the fence are abundant plants and wildlife that could be harvested to address the needs of the people. Poor families can receive more grain and oil from the government only if they in turn place another slip with their name in the reaping, increasing the likelihood of their participation in the Hunger Games. Instead of allowing its people to prosper from these resources, the Capitol purposefully limits their access to resources to make them subservient to an authoritarian state. [click to continue…]

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New Sim City game to address climate change

With recent news that the much loved Sim City franchise will receive a reboot after a ten year absence, much focus is being directed to a new multiplayer function that will place the cities next to one another and force the players to cooperate when dealing with inter-jurisdictional problems like climate change and renewable energy. As one blogger saw it, gamers will have to work together or “compete greedily for resources and to hell with Mother Earth.”

I’ll withhold judgment on the game itself until it’s released but the idea itself is intriguing. As a nerdy kid, one of my favorite Sim games was SimSafari which, from what I can remember, did a decent job of simulating the balancing act of wilderness park management including community outreach, tourist accommodations, and poaching. If the newest iteration of Sim City takes a similar, balanced approach and recognizes the limited effect that localized planning can have on a global phenomenon, it could be an effective educational exercise. What would be disappointing is if the issue was simplified to such a degree that the only way to stop hurricanes would be to build solar panels. [click to continue…]

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Humility and Skepticism in Scientific Debate

Wired has published a lengthy piece by Jonah Lehrer on scientific experimentation and perception of the future called “Trials and Errors: Why Science Is Failing Us.” While the bulk of the article deals specifically with perceptions of certainty on the biological level as perceived through our understanding of pharmaceutical research, I found it interesting how many of the same concepts that Lehrer espouses can be applied to the climate change debate. A few excerpts:

This assumption—that understanding a system’s constituent parts means we also understand the causes within the system—is not limited to the pharmaceutical industry or even to biology. It defines modern science. In general, we believe that the so-called problem of causation can be cured by more information, by our ceaseless accumulation of facts. Scientists refer to this process as reductionism. By breaking down a process, we can see how everything fits together; the complex mystery is distilled into a list of ingredients…

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Employment Impact Assessments and the Shale Gas Boom

Earlier this month, two Ohio economists published a paper downplaying the economic impacts of natural gas drilling in Ohio. They argued that optimistic employment projections should be shifted downwards and that the overall employment effects will not be as significant as the industry would have you believe.

A singular focus on the exact number of jobs created is less important than the understanding that this development will provide mobility and opportunity for people in the effected communities and beyond. Natural gas, when responsibly extracted, can add value to communities and drive job creation in disparate geographic regions and sectors of the economy.

Two articles released yesterday provide great snapshots of the different ways in which economic activity manifests itself in relation to the shale gas boom.

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EPA Regulations and the Cost of Energy

When speaking with people about the price of electricity, it is hard to convey exactly how they bare the costs of that generation. It isn’t just through the rates they pay but also through the laws and regulations that govern the electric industry. Those rules can force rates up or hide those increases through manipulation of the tax code. Either way, if you pay taxes or bills, or buy goods or services from those who do, increases in the cost of electricity will affect you.

This is especially relevant with the EPA’s adoption of the mercury MACT rule which will require many plants to choose between closing older coal-fired power plants and spending billions of dollars on pollution control technologies to upgrade the plants to the new rule’s specifications. The EPA has estimated that the costs for compliance over the next 20 years will be about $195 billion. With numbers like that, utility operators are surely rethinking their current energy portfolios and looking at the costs of building new generation versus the cost of upgrading existing plants. [click to continue…]

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OSU Fracking Study Misrepresents Natural Gas Benefits

Amanda Weinstein and Mark Partridge, two Ohio State University economists, have published a report titled “The Economic Value of Shale Natural Gas in Ohio.” The report’s primary emphasis is on statements made by industry-funded studies related to the employment benefits of natural gas extraction from the Marcellus and Utica Shales.

While I think their analysis understates the employment benefits of responsible natural gas development, the larger issue with their report occurs when the authors step outside of their expertise to analyze the costs and benefits of natural gas more generally. This section systematically understates the benefits of natural gas, selectively cites literature without acknowledging recent research, and misrepresents the industry’s current response to chemical disclosure. [click to continue…]

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Oil Boom Growing Pains

As North Dakota benefits from the vast oil reserves discovered in the Bakken formation, you think NPR would find reason to cheer. With a one billion dollar budget surplus and 3.5% unemployment the state is welcoming the development, and as would be expected, there are growing pains. The author makes an honest attempt to present both sides but the entire article was framed with such a negative lens that it gives an incomplete picture as to the benefits of responsible extraction.

For example, Williams County Commission Chairman Dan Kalil is quoted as saying:

“They’re consuming all of our resources. They’re consuming all of our people looking for jobs. All the employee base is used up.”

Having too many jobs and not enough people to fill them is a problem many other places would gladly take over their own employment picture. [click to continue…]

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Natural Gas Impact Fee Principles

In the coming days and weeks, the Pennsylvania legislature will consider the size and scope of an expected impact fee on hydraulically fractured natural gas well operators as part of a greater package updating regulations on the industry. When considering this bill, legislators should insist that the fees are narrowly tailored to address the actual impacts associated with the process and not be used to fund unrelated programs.

Our friends at the Commonwealth Foundation have spelled out five principles for the implementation of an impact fee that I agree should be considered:

  1. Businesses should pay the cost for government they use. If a business is not paying for its negative impacts on the environment and/or infrastructure, it is appropriate to charge a fee to pay for the government’s cost to remediate the problem. Since drilling’s impact on government does not increase if a gas well is more profitable, a “fee” should not be tied to production.
  2. Any fee should be directly related to uncompensated costs of government. A new fee should not be imposed to extract additional revenue for unrelated government purposes or subsidies. For example, Growing Greener is not directly related to remediating problems caused by the natural gas industry. [click to continue…]

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NYT Takes a Look at Energy

Today The New York Times produced a special section on energy that acknowledged many of the facts that we at Heartland often repeat to deaf ears about job creation within the energy industry and the transformational nature of unconventional fuel extraction. I thought I would highlight a few key points from the articles and encourage you to read them in their entirety.

New Technologies Redraw the World’s Energy Picture:

“There is the potential to really rebalance strategic power in the world,” said David L. Goldwyn, former State Department coordinator for international energy affairs. “If we are able to manage significant incremental supply from Canada, from onshore U.S., from Brazil and friendly countries in West Africa, then we can significantly ameliorate the risk of a supply disruption in the Middle East or from other countries that might use oil as a weapon.” [click to continue…]

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In Ohio, Shale Gas Development Can Revitalize Rural Counties

With Chesapeake Energy’s announcement last month that exploratory shale gas wells in Northeast Ohio have shown promising returns, cities and municipalities in the region are beginning to prepare for the boom times to come. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published a great article this weekend that helps to show the human component of this economic success story. The stories told here should be at the center of policymakers’ minds when they consider the industry’s expansion in their states.

The author talks to Donna Sauer, the owner of Donna’s Deli in Carrolltown, OH, where she serves hungry oil and gas industry workers “second helpings of her mom’s homemade pumpkin pie” during the lunchtime rush:

Donna’s Deli stands across the village square from the county courthouse, where land men are poring over maps and deeds to research mineral rights to land tracts. She also draws roughnecks from the rigs and the surveyors and petroleum engineers far from home.

“They have just been the nicest people, really,” she said. “Extremely courteous. We’re happy they’re here, and they’re happy to be here.” [click to continue…]

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