Is Collin Peterson a Blue Dog Democrat or a Red Dog Republican

Last week I wrote about the Minnesota Republicans support for a so-called "all of the above" energy policy in their myopic Vision 2020 plan. In their all-of-the-above plan they only mention energy derived from coal and nuclear power. The plan does not mention renewable sources of energy. However, their plan does include a photo of a wind generator.

The Republican all-of-the-above energy plan reminded me of Rep. Collin Peterson's support for  an all-of-the-above energy plan. In his plan, Rep. Peterson uses the word renewable but not the phrase climate change.

Being the deep thinking political analyst that I am I began wondering what the difference between an all-of-the-above energy plan that uses the word renewable and one that merely has a picture of it. I'm not up to the task, I'm afraid.

I've published below a column I wrote last year as I wrestled with Rep. Peterson's murky thinking. Perhaps it will help you understand.

Tim

Central Minnesota Political

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In January (2019) U.S. Representative Ted Deutsch, a Florida Democrat, introduced H.R. 763, also known as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Deutsch is the co-chair of the Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress. The Climate Solutions Caucus is a pretty bi-partisan group for today’s Washington D.C. About one-third of its seventy-eight members are Republicans. That’s good news, since the leader of that political party refuses to believe that the climate disruption that we’re experiencing is not being caused by humanity.

“The Climate Solutions Caucus is an important, bipartisan venue where members can share ideas and debate the merits of how to best solve the environmental concerns we face as a nation. Sea level rise, carbon emissions, and the overall health of our climate are bipartisan issues, and I am encouraged that there are a growing number of people on both sides of the aisle willing to find solutions,” Francis Rooney, the Republican co-chair of the Caucus, said recently.   

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act seems to be the sort of bi-partisan climate legislation Climate Solutions Caucus members could get behind.

The bill imposes a fee on the carbon content of fuels, including crude oil, natural gas, coal, or any product derived from them that would emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The carbon fee will be imposed on the producers or importers of the fuels and will be equal to the greenhouse gas content of the fuel multiplied by the carbon fee rate. The rate would begin at $15 in 2019, and increases by $10 each year.

There are a number of carbon tax proposals being considered but the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act is unique because the government doesn’t get the fees from the program. The fees raised through the bill would be deposited into a Carbon Dividend Trust Fund and would be used for administrative expenses. After the operating expenses of the program were covered, the balance would be made as dividend payments to U.S. citizens and lawful residents. 

So, who’d be against this legislation? It’s probably not enough to put the brakes completely on climate chaos but it would move us from doing worse than nothing to doing something. Indeed, many members of the Climate Solutions Caucus have co-sponsored this interesting bill.

Since both Republicans and Democrats support this bill I thought I’d call Representative Collin Peterson and ask what he thought of the legislation. Peterson calls himself a Blue Dog Democrat which is sort of a hybrid cross between a Democrat and a Republican.

In fact, Congressman Peterson says he’s tried to get into the Climate Solutions Caucus.

“I agreed to join the Climate Solutions Caucus,” he wrote. “This bipartisan caucus explores policy options that protect our nation’s economy, security, infrastructure, agriculture, water supply, and public safety from natural disasters and extreme weather events. We must work together to find bipartisan policy solutions to these growing challenges.”

Rep. Peterson refers to extreme weather events in hopes of avoiding using a phrase like climate change. He still seems to think the climate disruption caused by humans is a political football rather than a scientific reality. And, it turns out, he really hasn’t joined the Climate Solutions Caucus. He’s just agreed to join - sometime in the indefinite future.

Congressman Peterson also said that he supports an “all of the above” energy policy.

“I support an all-of-the-above energy policy, including taking advantage of our renewable energy resources and using them as efficiently as possible. While we must make sure that these types of policy proposals do not come at the expense of American workers and their families, there are many opportunities to promote energy security and incentivize development that are consistent with our environmental responsibilities.”

I don’t know what all that means and he wouldn’t tell me. I thought an all-of-the-above energy policy might include the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. After all, the caucus he’s agreed to join has largely signed on in support of the legislation. Besides, the bill’s dividend payments would benefit the American workers who he says he’s concerned about.

“It (the legislation) is something we’ll continue to review,” Sue Dieter, his Communications Director told me. 

You’d think that, after nine months, they’d be done reviewing.

It’s unfortunate Representative Peterson won’t support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Divident Act. It would help his constituents and take a step toward protecting us from the extreme weather events that he claims to be concerned about.