The European Union Re-examines the Clean Energy/Economic Growth Tradeoff — So Should the Media
The progressive media often promote specious opinions on environmental policy that are in direct opposition to the very evidence they use to support their criticisms. Case in point is an article in The New York Times by Stephen Castle. He writes that, “Europe seems to be hitting its environmental limits,” as high energy costs and declining industrial competitiveness have sparked fears of faltering economic growth among the senior administrators of the European Commission (EC), which is the Brussels-based executive arm of the European Union (EU). As a result, the EC is proposing to reduce its national targets for renewable energy production after the year 2020, to promote cleaner energy production and conserve fossil fuels. The EC is also reversing its push for new laws on environmental damage stemming from fracking, the extraction of shale gas by a controversial new drilling technology.