Can American states slow global warming on their own?

A clutch of states with Democratic governments are having a go

Jun 29th 2019|NEW YORK, SEATTLE AND WASHINGTON, DC

BRIAN BOQUIST, an Oregon state senator and fugitive of sorts, does not take his pursuers lightly. “Send bachelors and come heavily armed,” he warned from his hideout, which is allegedly in Idaho. “I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon,” he added. Since June 20th Mr Boquist and the rest of his Republican colleagues in the state Senate have fled from the capitol in Salem as part a final effort to derail a climate-change bill. Kate Brown, the Democratic governor, who is keen to sign the bill, has invoked her constitutional authority to haul the absentee lawmakers back, thus giving Democrats a quorum. Threats from armed militias then forced the closure of the capitol altogether.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The great divide”