CEI Today: More EPA secret email accounts, Virginia's bad deal transportation tax plan, and the impact of ethanol mandate on Guatemala

Daily Caller: Top EPA official used private email account to correspond with environmental groups

 

A second Environmental Protection Agency official stands accused of using a personal email address to shield communications with environmental activists from public disclosure.

Court documents show that EPA Region 8 Administrator James Martin corresponded with the Environmental Defense Fund— where he previously worked as an attorney — through his private email account.

The EPA released 19 emails as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in May.  > Read the full news story at Dailycaller.com

> Interview Christopher Horner

VIRGINIA'S TRANSPORTATION WOES - MARC SCRIBNER Gov. McDonnell's Transportation Tax Plan a Bad Deal for Virginians Yesterday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell released his transportation funding plan. His proposal would eliminate the gasoline tax, making up for revenue losses largely by increasing the sales tax and redirecting general revenue. However, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) expressed concerns with the McDonnell plan, warning that it relies on fiscal sleights of hand and will ultimately harm Virginia’s transportation networks. “The McDonnell plan is a step backward for Virginia, which has long led the nation in pioneering successful transportation policy innovations such as the public-private partnership model,” said Marc Scribner, Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Policy Studies at CEI. > View the full statement and analysis > Inteview Marc Scribner

ETHANOL MANDATES - HANS BADER Globalwarming.org: Ethanol Mandates Cause Hunger and Child Malnutrition in Guatemala On Sunday, the New York Times ran a story about how ethanol mandates are driving up child malnutrition and hunger in Guatemala.  That country now has the fourth-highest rate of child malnutrition in the entire world (higher than in most war-torn African countries). The Obama Administration persists in supporting ethanol mandates despite widespread criticism from experts across the political spectrum.  The legislation in Congress that it backed in the name of fighting global warming contained ethanol subsidies, even though ethanol subsidies have been linked to famine, hunger, food riots, and political unrest in poor countries.  That “cap-and-trade” legislation contained so many special-interest giveaways that it would have fleeced American consumers without helping the environment, even while driving industry overseas to countries with less environmental protections. > View the full commentary at Globalwarming.org > Interview Hans Bader

More in the news... James Buchanan, 1919-2013 Hide & sneak Fake e-mail addresses, secret meetings — how the Obama administration’s ‘openness’ is a lie U.S.-EU Trade Negotiations Will Have Some Sticking Points Bush officials, Environmental Defense Fund join in appeal to conservatives Easing of Rules for Banks Acknowledges Reality

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.