Sometimes, even in Congress, one can overplay one’s hand protecting turf. Consider the South Carolina delegation’s sharp objection to President Obama’s cut to a nuclear project sited at Savannah River designed to convert 34 tons of nuclear weapon-grade plutonium into civilian reactor fuel. President Obama, who has a reputation for spending too much on energy projects, wants to cut this one by $167 million and find a more cost effective way to dispose of the plutonium. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has decided to play hardball by placing a hold on the Energy Secretary nominee, Ernest Moniz, whose appointment just received near unanimous approval of the Senate Energy Committee.
 
To be sure, the president’s proposed cut hardly augurs well for the Mixed Oxide Fuels (MOX) program.

In Washington these days, it is hard to get Democrats and Republicans to agree on much.  But one thing they do agree on is the need to closely examine how the dramatic increase in the price of compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, could lead to gasoline price increases.
 
Recently, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Energy Committee Ron Wyden of Oregon warned of "unprecedented price spikes" for credits, known as renewable identification numbers, or RINs. Across the political aisle Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and David Vitter of Louisiana argued that "recent prices for RINs have skyrocketed" likely resulting in "increased costs to consumers" as well as greater gasoline exports and reduced domestic production. Obviously, this is a grim picture recognized by both sides in Washington as we approach the summer driving season.

This week marked World Malaria Day and the second anniversary of a remarkable effort to engage 3,000 Peace Corps volunteers across Africa in the fight against the mosquito-borne disease that kills 600,000 people a year, typically the most vulnerable among us—children under age five in Africa.
 
The Peace Corps Stomping Out Malaria in Africa initiative was launched in partnership with the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), a multi-agency program led by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The effort combines the grassroots focus of Peace Corps volunteers in villages and towns in 23 African nations, with promotion of the inexpensive, but effective, tools of malaria control: insecticide-treated bed nets, rapid diagnostic tests, and malaria medicines made with artemisinin, a plant extract long used in Chinese herbal medicine to cure children or adults with the disease.

In his recent blog post on April 19, “Conservation: A legacy for the environment and the economy,” former Representative Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) examined the proud tradition of conservation that Republican leaders in our country championed, dating back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt, an ardent outdoorsman and conservationist, and the first president to utilize the Antiquities Act to protect our natural and cultural treasures.

While tax day is behind us, most small business owners have likely filed extensions to let them continue combing through the tax code looking for ways to keep their hard-earned dollars in their own coffers instead of in Uncle Sam’s. Fortunately, there have been some encouraging developments recently in Congress that could significantly impact small businesses.

Qah, Syria – The young girl stood in the middle of the classroom, with visitors and fellow students gathered around. Speaking softly and steadily – but still with tears in her eyes – she told us how she had fled her home in outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. She lost several family members (including her father and a brother) during the rebels’ advance on the city and the government’s relentless bombardment.

Forced to flee for her life, she now lives in an impromptu camp for displaced people near the Syrian town of Qah, twenty kilometers south of the Turkish border. She shares an overcrowded tent with her brother and his family.

For the second straight year, the U.S. is tied for last place with Papua New Guinea in the time it takes to bring a new mine online. According to Behre Dolbear’s new rankings, the mining industry standard for assessing political risk, extreme permitting delays continue to be “the most significant risk to mining projects in the United States”.

The Obama administration should take these findings seriously. Federal mine permitting delays – many of which can be traced to the Environmental Protection Agency – handicap America in the global race for critical resources, and cost jobs. And this isn’t just rhetoric, it’s reality: just as Behre Dolbear published America’s rock-bottom rank this month, Caterpillar announced that it laid off 460 workers at a U.S. mining equipment plant, citing weakening demand.

In all likelihood, Gina McCarthy will soon be confirmed as the new EPA Administrator. She must demonstrate her commitment to regulatory actions based on sound science and not continue in her predecessor’s footsteps by bowing to pressure from environmental activists. EPA has handicapped the U.S. economy by delaying or obstructing the development of America’s mineral resources, which are critical to ensuring our manufacturing competitiveness and our ability to innovate.

And then there’s national security. In fact, the ink has barely dried on the Pentagon’s 2013 report to Congress on strategic and critical minerals and metals. The study found 23 of them in potential shortfall, and in the case of nine metals recommended – for the first time since the Cold War – that Congress take actions to spend approximately $1.2 billion to stockpile them.

Either the Pentagon didn’t get the memo on sequestration – or we’re in serious trouble.

Reading deeper into the report, the latter is clearly the case. One of the scenarios posited involves a one-year metals embargo instituted by China, which produces nearly 90 percent of the metals surveyed.

My own organization, American Resources Policy Network, did a risk screen for minerals and metals used in defense applications, based on reports from the Pentagon and other federal agencies. We derived a “risk pyramid,” with 46 metals on it – with China being the single largest supplier. We also discovered found that America is home to resources for 40 of these important minerals and metals.

In other words, if we are foreign-dependent for a wide range of hard rock resources, it is a dependency that is largely self-inflicted.

A certain cautiousness overtakes many political observers upon hearing the word “bipartisanship.” Agreements between Republicans and Democrats too often mean more spending and debt, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. That’s why it was a pleasant surprise earlier this month when both parties came to a consensus on an initiative that would actually reduce spending -- through the elimination of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).

In a statement variously attributed to George Orwell and Winston Churchill, and perhaps uttered by neither, citizens of prosperous democracies are periodically reminded that “we sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” Today, we also rest comfortably because attentive people at consoles sit ready to do the same.
 
The concept of valor lies at the heart of the Pentagon’s April 15 cancellation of the Distinguished Warfare Medal, intended to recognize service members directly impacting combat operations from locations outside the battlefield. The demise of the so-called “Nintendo medal” was widely acclaimed in both the media and large swaths of the military community as a restoration of martial virtue and a fitting rebuke to “cubicle warriors.”