Democrats Strike Deal With Agriculture on Climate Bill

On June 23, Democrats in the House of Representatives announced that they had reached a deal on several key agricultural concerns in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) (H.R. 2454), clearing the way for a planned floor vote on June 26. Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) had previously threatened to torpedo the legislation, claiming that he had as many as 45 Democrats lined up to vote against the bill if his concerns were not addressed. The deal, struck with Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and bill sponsor Henry Waxman (D-CA), included the following key provisions:

1) The agricultural and forestry sectors will be fully exempted from carbon emissions caps.

2) Oversight of the domestic agricultural and forestry offsets program would be moved from the EPA to the USDA. Under these provisions, farmers could sell carbon credits in exchange for practices that reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions or store carbon in the soil and vegetation. Supporters believe that the USDA is in a better position to implement such a program effectively, while critics fear that the USDA will be more lax than the EPA in determining which practices actually reduce carbon emissions. For the time being, the role of the EPA in implementing the offsets program will remain undefined, subject to future guidance from the Obama administration.

3) The renewable fuel standard in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires the EPA to conduct a life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to indirect land use changes around the world caused by the production of biofuels in the United States. Under the agreement, this assessment would be put on hold for the next five years while the National Academy of Sciences conducts a study of the scientific basis and methodologies used in conducting such assessments. The ethanol industry and many agricultural groups had strongly opposed EPA’s assessment as being unscientific, over-stated, and unfairly applied, while proponents of incorporating emissions due to overseas indirect landuse change remain concerned that the total, life cycle carbon footprint of biofuels made from crops such as corn and soybeans is greater than that of petroleum-based fuels.

4) The definition of renewable biomass would be expanded to include a much larger portion of available woody biomass on both federal and non-federal lands, and the definition of renewable biomass would be similarly amended for purposes of implementing the renewable fuel standard.

President Obama spoke in favor of the bill on Tuesday, saying it “will spark a clean energy transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet.” With the concerns of agricultural interests largely addressed, both Waxman and Peterson predicted that ACES would have the votes to make it through the House on Friday. “I think we will have the majority to pass the bill,” said Waxman , in a press conference held with Peterson on Tuesday.