Green Ink: Hokkaido Hangover and Slim Pickens

Iranian missle tests pushed crude oil closer to $140 in early trading, reversing part of Tuesday’s sharp decline, Bloomberg reports. And if market opacity is part of the problem, the European Union has an answer—weekly oil data updates to bring more transparency to the futures game, the FT reports. American politicans returned from the 4th of July energized by high gasoline prices, and appear willing to break the energy-policy stalemate, the NYT reports. That could even include a deal by Democrats on offshore drilling, the WSJ reports (sub reqd.)—as long as “idle leases” are turned over. So the G-8 formally agreed to cut emissions by mid-century. What are the gripes? The lack of midterm targets for cutting emissions, the Guardian says. No, make that the the lack of a defined baseline year to measure progress, says the IPCC in... [read full story]