It is usually a mistake to bet against the ability of the Washington lobbyists to find a way to fix a problem that will cost a powerful industry a lot of money. Usually, but not always.

Years from now, academics and political historians may argue with maps and varicoloured arrows about whether the national cap-and-trade market for nitrous oxides and sulphur dioxide could have been saved after a federal court invalidated the Environmental Protection Agency's programme on July 11. It will be similar to those arguments over whether the Great War was inevitable after the Imperial General Staff gave the initial intricate orders to the German railway system. Maybe there will be a board game for aspiring lobbyists at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.