Intense drought in southern tier in no hurry to loosen grip - Capital Weather Gang - The Washington Post

Although climate science research shows that droughts are likely to become more intense and more frequent in a warming world, particularly in the Southwestern US, observational evidence does not yet show clear trends in drought conditions in the U.S. to date.

Hoerling says his quick analysis led him to conclude that climate change has not played a major role in this event. “This is not a climate change drought by all indications,” he said, adding that this view does not in any way refute the fact that global warming is occurring, either.

Cap-and-trade could spur faster cleantech investment than carbon tax | Grist

I am painfully aware that the "cap-and-trade vs. carbon tax" debate, which was never particularly useful, has now become spectacularly pointless. Cap-and-trade is dead at the national level and seems to be slowly dying at the state level. And a carbon tax, despite the eternally brimming hopes of its many apostles, still has no chance in hell. So it's a "unicorns vs. bigfoot" kind of thing at this point.