Word out of Washington today is that the U.S. Senate won't even vote on its miserable energy-only climate bill before lawmakers adjourn for the August recess. This is just the latest in a series of embarrassing episodes for the upper chamber, whose broken procedures present what David Roberts called "a virtually insuperable barrier to action" on a regionally divisive issue like climate change.

Still, all hope is not lost for the nation's greenies. As we wrote recently, state lawmakers can play a key role in protecting the environment and reworking the United States' energy economy. In fact, research from the World Resources Institute shows that the combined efforts of both state governments and the Environmental Protection Agency could make a "sizable dent" in U.S. carbon emissions. That is, if the regulator agency survives what will be a hurricane of legal challenges from dirty energy producers, antiquated business interests, and the lawmakers who do their bidding.