Congressional members are drawing lines in the sand and squaring off to battle for control of the inevitable carbon market. Industry, as usual, will be caught in the middle and have to pay extra no matter what the outcome.

U.S. Representative Edward Markey and fellow democrat Collin Peterson are both claiming that oversight of the developing CO₂ permits trading program should fall under their committees. The winner will have the authority to set rules for the market. They would also have control over rules governing the operations of our power companies, steel industries and financial institutions that will handle the transactions.

Markey heads the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission while Peterson leads the House Agriculture Committee. The market is expected to be valued at over $1 trillion by 2020 according to financial experts.

The maneuvering is going on now because the $3.6 billion budget submitted by President Obama included creating a cap-and-trade program to limit emissions. It is expected that the financial gurus are eagerly anticipating all of the possibilities of what they fully expect will be the next hot derivatives market.

In other words, it all comes down to the same thing, money. In this case it will again be big money and the system will be as complex as anything anybody has ever seen. Unfortunately, the average guy and the small business operator will again be shoved to the sideline as the big boys push and shove at each other to get at the trough. Can’t you just hear the cows laughing at us?