Midwest in the Catbird’s Seat to Make History

By ART CULLEN

The table is set in the US Senate and Cabinet for the Midwest to capitalize on what should be historic initiatives in agriculture and renewable energy in response to the climate crisis.

President Joe Biden has put climate at the center of his agenda and tabbed Midwesterners to lead his charge: Tom Vilsack of Iowa for agriculture, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan for energy and Pete Buttigieg of Indiana for transportation. Vilsack has promised swift and substantial action involving carbon trading markets, increases in conservation funding and diversifying food systems.

Leading the Senate Agriculture Committee is Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who also is a senior member of the Energy Committee. Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois sits on Ag, alongside Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa serve in the minority with John Thune of South Dakota and, notably, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Chairing the House Ag Committee is Rep. David Scott, D-Ga. Much of the action will be herded by subcommittee chairs Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill. (from the Quad Cities) for commodity programs and crop insurance, and Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., who oversees conservation and forestry. Each is friendly with the Farm Bureau and suspicious of anything called a Green New Deal. Spanberger, a former CIA agent, is a strong proponent of creating carbon trading programs, and has considerable corporate support. She and Vilsack are on the same page, it would appear, along with Cargill and the Chicago Commodities Futures Trading Commission and America’s largest single landholder, Bill Gates.

Carbon trading has a future, and it is likely to be run through the next farm bill that is supposed to be inked in two years.

It will be interesting to watch the evenly divided Senate, and how the Ag Committee plays into the climate and infrastructure packages. Depending on how active McConnell and Durbin intend to be, it could be barometer for Biden’s success at bipartisanship. Klobuchar elevated her profile during the presidential campaign as a sober pragmatist. She is a strong conservation proponent, and is one of the few members of Congress who understands the dire need to fund livestock research. Our current pandemic sprang from an animal. Klobuchar was the only candidate who talked about avian and swine disease research during the campaign — and before the pandemic.

Vilsack declares that resilient agriculture will be at the foundation of the Administration’s farm and rural policy. He will push for a stronger Conservation Stewardship Program, cash for cover crops, and assistance for livestock producers to eliminate methane emissions. He and Klobuchar note that resiliency in meatpacking involves treating workers and producers fairly, and both are talking about anti-trust. So are Grassley and Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.

Of course, Vilsack always has been a champion of renewable energy as former governor of Iowa, the leader in wind and biofuels. So is Granholm, former governor of Michigan. Industrial Ohio and Indiana are ripe for redevelopment of an electric auto industry and for battery production, which Buttigieg and Brown can help drive. The Dakotas have not scratched the surface of their wind and solar potential, and already see fracking in decline along with long-term fossil fuel pricing. Thune understands. He and Klobuchar work together. Grassley wrote the wind energy production tax credit from the Finance Committee, now chaired by Ron Wyden of Oregon. It so happens Stabenow of Michigan is the senior Democrat on Finance. All roads appear to lead through Michigan … and West Virginia.

Sen. Joe Manchin arguably is the kingpin of anything big happening as the most conservative Democrat. A Mountaineer, he is a staunch defender of coal. But he also backs the creation of carbon trading markets, and is keen on carbon capture and sequestration. He surely would like to see new wind and solar jobs in coal country to ease the inevitable transition. McConnell’s Kentucky stands to gain a lot from new biomass energy production to replace coal and tobacco. These are all areas where compromise and historic legislation can be achieved at the center. Sen. Brown is just next door to Manchin in Ohio. They hear the same Appalachian song. Manchin says his priority is rural development. Same with Brown and Vilsack.

The Midwest is at the center of it all. Chicago could become the world’s leading carbon market. Detroit could be refired with electric autos. Iowa has the potential to be the leading biomass and solar state in the country, while saving precious soil. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa (along with Georgia) can greatly strengthen their positions as disease research hubs in poultry and swine. Iowa already is the world leader in livestock disease and vaccine research, but we can be a lot better. We will be.

There will be a lot of battles in front of and behind the curtains. Who will get the carbon money? Bill Gates or the farm tenant? Can Klobuchar lead a break-up of the meat oligopoly with the Justice Department and Vilsack? How can rural residents directly benefit from wind, geothermal and solar energy easily? How do we bring Manchin’s people along — which is really the essential question for America and its disaffected folks left behind? These basic issues are bound to play out in what could be the most important era since Henry Wallace was agriculture secretary to FDR. The Midwest could not be in a better position.

Art Cullen, managing editor of The Progressive Populist, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing as editor of his day job at The Storm Lake (Iowa) Times (stormlake.com). He is author of the book “Storm Lake: Change, Resilience, and Hope from America’s Heartland,” recently releasedin paperback. Email times@stormlake.com.

From The Progressive Populist, April 1, 2021

Populist.com