![[Photo of Diane S. Katz]](/media/images/people/katz-d.jpg)
Diane S. Katz is an adjunct scholar for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, formerly serving as director of science, environment and technology policy from 2002 to 2008. Prior to joining the Center, Katz served for nine years as a member of The Detroit News editorial board, specializing in science and the environment, telecommunications and technology, and the auto industry. Her work has won numerous awards, including top honors from the Michigan Press Association in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
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By Diane S. Katz
Bad Science Fuels Environmental Policies
The obvious disconnect between environmental policy and science is hardly surprising given the political pressure to act on climate change. … more
The Not So Good Life
By the standards of the last century, air quality today is excellent — notwithstanding the claims of environmental activists. … more
Court Ignored Sound Science in Carbon Dioxide Ruling
Consensus is actually antithetical to the proper conduct of scientific inquiry. … more
Taken For a Ride
It bears noting that any park or other amusement facility that must rely on tax dollars, rather than private investment, is by definition not viable and thus unworthy of taxpayer support. … more
Environmental Doomsayers Can Breathe Easy
This welcome news is yet another reminder that prognosticators of eco-catastrophe are off the mark. … more
An Alternative to Green Orthodoxy (Viewpoint on Public Issues)
There is an alternative to embracing Green Orthodoxy. Few states or school districts have actually evaluated the veracity and impartiality of environmental curricula. … more
Government Broadband: Unnecessary and Unfair
More often than not, municipal broadband ventures have saddled taxpayers with unwelcome debt or otherwise failed to deliver promised results. … more
A Wisconsin Telecommunications Policy Primer
A guide to understanding telecommunications law and regulation in Wisconsin and the United States. … more
Supreme Court Ruling Shows Telecom Regulation Should Be Abolished
The ruling’s outcome is all well and good. Yet the FCC’s distinction between “telecommunications services” and “information services” is, in fact, imprecise and arbitrary — a regulatory invention that has no place in today’s telecommunications market. … more
Creating Clear Signals on Telecom
Telecom firms are understandably reluctant to invest in markets where regulators wield power arbitrarily. … more
When Politics Trumps Science
There’s no shortage of examples in which public policy has proved deadly when divorced from science. … more
Lansing Bureaucracy Threatens New Communications Technology
The Michigan Public Service Commission says it wants a “consistent regulatory policy.” Aiming for “consistency in policy usually means protecting special interests. … more
Land Preservation Double-Cross
A slim majority of county commissioners has so far refused to put the millage on the ballot, citing significant unanswered questions about its economic effects. … more
Michigan’s Primary Land-Use Plan a Failure
By every measure, Michigan remains largely a rural state. More than 18 million of Michigan’s 36 million acres is forestland, a share that has actually grown by 2 million acres in the past 20 years. … more
Beachfront Property Rights Need Protection
Regulators would do far better … to focus attention on the dumping of raw sewage and chemicals that are triggering abnormal plant and algae growth along the lakeshore. … more
Eagle Sightings Signal Improved Michigan Water Quality
The United States and Canada have identified 14 areas within
Michigan’s jurisdiction in which water quality does not support a full range of uses, such as drinking or fish
consumption. … more
Attack on SUVs Unwarranted
Highway safety in general has dramatically improved despite a doubling of licensed drivers and twice as many registrations. The fatality rate hit a historic low of 1.51 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2001, down from 5.5 in 1966. … more
The DNR's Latest Land Grab
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeking control of some 390,000 acres of prime Upper Peninsula property to preserve as forestland and for recreational access. Well-intended though the proposal may be, the state should be privatizing resource management rather than increasing its already vast holdings. … more
Who Reviews the Peer Review?
Should published research be pre-approved by other researchers, or should the market decide its worth? … more
The Next Energy Boondoggle?
Promoting energy R&D in Michigan does not require yet another government bureaucracy allocating favors to select firms. Privatization of state and federal research programs may make Michigan the economic powerhouse the governor envisions. … more
Is Next Energy the Next Energy Boondoggle?
Promoting energy R&D in Michigan does not require yet another government bureaucracy allocating favors to firms willing to relocate to state-owned property. … more
The Great 9-1-1 Tax Pileup
In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission told states to create cell-locator 9-1-1 emergency phone service and pay for it themselves. Washington miscalculated both costs and capacity, and today only 21 of 83 Michigan counties have even partially implemented this "unfunded mandate." Meanwhile, the overpaid taxes are piling up. The federal government should scrap its plan and allow the private sector to come up with the most reliable, cost-effective 9-1-1 service. … more
"Virtual Reality Fee" Virtually Kills Development
Birmingham's "virtual reality fee," which assesses steep taxes on business owners who want to paint or otherwise modify their buildings, is a threat to the city's economic well being. … more
Dialing (911) for Dollars
Michigan consumers are forking over millions of dollars annually for more sophisticated 911 services that have yet to materialize. Prescribed by federal regulators six years ago, the enhanced emergency calling system is beset by technical and financial difficulties that demonstrate the pitfalls of unfunded mandates. … more
Setting the Course for More Effective Environmental Policy
Mackinac Center Director of Science, Environment, and Technology Policy Diane Katz's speech "Setting the Course for More Effective Environmental Policy," delivered April 29, 2002, at the Mackinac Center Issues and Ideas luncheon in Lansing. … more
Broadband Agency Taps Housing Money
"What does a program designed to help low-income people get affordable housing have to do with wiring the state for high-speed Internet access?" … more
Depression-Era Program Should be Privatized
The Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps is a Depression-era program that recruits people ages 18-25 to spruce up state parks, clear trails and rake beaches. The MCCC program should be removed from state stewardship. … more
New EPA Air Regs Could Kill Michigan Jobs
The regulatory state scored a major victory when a federal appeals court recently concluded that procedure matters far more than scientific fact in environmental rulemaking. Unless Congress intervenes, the ruling will prove enormously costly to Michigan workers and industry without yielding commensurate benefits. … more
Proposals for Oil Conservation More of a Threat than Energy Dependence
A spate of proposals for reducing America's "dependence" on foreign oil have followed in the wake of Sept. 11. These proposals are misguided and would do more to undermine American strength, which lies in its economic power and stability, than dependence on foreign oil ever has, or will. … more
CAFE = Causing Auto Fatalities Everywhere?
The U.S. Senate will devote most of March to debating a $35-billion energy package that supposedly will protect Americans from both greedy sheikhs and global warming. But if enacted as proposed, the measure actually would result in a good deal of American blood needlessly spilled on U.S. highways. … more
Good News for the New Year: Americans Living Longer Than Ever
There's good news for the New Year: Americans are living longer than at any time in history-76.9 years, on average. This is testimony to both the vibrancy of nature and the ingenuity of man-and the industrial and technological progress fueled by free minds and free markets. … more
Should the State Boost Broadband?
In his 2002 State of the State address, Gov. John Engler touted the economic benefits to be derived from his proposed state government takeover of Michigan's high-speed Internet network. But a host of unrealistic assumptions underlie the governor's claims. … more
A Success Story Without the Success
To skeptics who question the wisdom of his proposal for state control of broadband deployment, Gov. John Engler offers as validation the success of Michigan's housing development program. But the similarities are slim and the benefits disputed. … more
Wrong Road
Surrounded by hundreds of gleaming new autos at the 2002 North American International Auto Show, Detroit's annual celebration of the internal combustion engine, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Wednesday effectively conceded what the Big Three and their customers have known for years: the feds have no business dictating vehicle design. … more
Engler's Broadband Ambition
Gov. John Engler's ambitious plan for state control of high-speed Internet lines gets its first hearing in the Legislature today. In considering the proposal, lawmakers would do well to heed the dismal results of similar schemes in other states. … more
Long Live Us
There's good news for the New Year. Americans are living longer than at any time in history-76.9 years, on average. This is testimony to both the vibrancy of nature and the ingenuity of man. … more
The (New) Three R's: Recycling, Rationing, and Regulation
Speech given by Ms. Diane Katz, then-editorial writer for The Detroit News, at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's 8th Annual Scholars Summit, held Nov. 9-10, 2001, in Midland. … more
