House ag committee chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) spent much of last summer gutting the Waxman-Markey climate change bill.
Before the legislative process started, Peterson and his allies had
made sure that the legislation would place no cap on greenhouse gas
emissions from agriculture. By the end of the process, he had turned
Waxman-Markey into yet another goodie bag for agribusiness.

After performing this feat, with much bluster and rallying of the
Blue dog troops, Peterson reluctantly voted for Waxman-Markey. Since
then, he has vowed repeatedly to cram yet more goodies for agribusiness into the bill if it ever got to reconciliation.

Well, I guess that was Peterson’s defense strategy. Now that climate
legislation is gasping its death rattle, the great champion of
agribusiness is on the offensive.
If he gets his way, the federal government will be unable to regulate
greenhouse gases at all—and the globe will lurch inexorably into a
future of climate chaos.  Peterson’s office announced Tuesday that …:

Today, U.S. Representative Collin Peterson joined House Armed
Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Representative Jo Ann Emerson
(R-MO) in introducing legislation to prevent the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under
the Clean Air Act, and to stop the EPA from harming the renewable fuels
industry.

“I have no confidence that the EPA can regulate greenhouse gases
under the Clean Air Act without doing serious damage to our economy,”
Peterson said. “Americans know we’re way too dependent on foreign oil
and fossil fuels in this country – and I’ve worked hard to develop
practical solutions to that problem – but Congress should be making
these types of decisions, not unelected bureaucrats at the EPA.”

Peterson watchers will remember that the ag chairman nurses a vendetta against the EPA. Why? Because the agency once dared question the ecological value of corn ethanol—in Peterson’s world, tantamount to debunking the virgin birth at Christmas service in front of the faithful.