CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Like clockwork: A rebounding dollar and increased oil stocks checked crude oil’s rise, reports AP. Still, it’s high enough for Iraq: Oil prices are more than double Iraqi budget projections, meaning a $70 billion windfall this year, reports AP in the WSJ.

And too high for Congress. Democrats are now threatening to stop arms sales to OPEC countries unless and until they find spare oil production capacity in order to relive high prices, reports the WSJ (sub reqd.). A quicker way might be to actually use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, especially if there are continued short-term supply disruptions from the U.K., argues Platt’s Barrel. Either way, something’s got to give: Oil analysts Wood MacKenzie expect natural gas prices will converge with crude in 3 to 4 years—and crude’s not likely to collapse, in Energy Current.

The House has approved principles for a cap-and-trade climate bill, with goals a little stricter than the Senate darling, such as full auctions of emissions permits and more ambitious targets. But there’s still plenty of wiggle-room, notes Hill Heat, as both chambers grope towards a definitive climate package. Japan and the European Union are trying to find a common climate stance as well ahead of the G-8 summit, but can’t agree on levels of emissions cuts, reports the FT, though the idea of “sectoral” approaches to curbing emissions gains ground.

China is again asking for developed-world technology to help the world’s biggest emitter fight climate change, reports AP, opening the door to a quid pro quo for more flexibility later. China is a perfect case study of why UN-style carbon credit projects may not really be helping, explains Common Tragedies. Chinese wind farms and hydroelectric plants would probably have been built anyway, given the country’s renewables push, but rich Western countries get credit for their clean-energy, meaning fewer emissions are curbed elsewhere.

Roger Cohen in the NYT makes a pitch for Brazilian sugarcane biofuels, and warns not to throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to biofuels: “The real scam lies in developed world protectionism and skewed subsidies, not the biofuel idea.” And Brazil may have a new biofuel star, as malaria researchers stumble on another sugar-derived fuel, reports AFP. Now, how to move it around? The Guardian reports that political uncertainty over biofuels has paralyzed biofuel tanker production.