Following his honorable discharge as a Specialist, Peterson owned and operated a retail food market in his hometown of Pleasantville for 26 years.

He also created five Higher Education Councils in his district which enable students from rural areas to earn university degrees right in their own community.

As the representative of Pennsylvania's largest, most rural district, Peterson was committed to strengthening job creation and economic development strategies; improving access to quality, affordable health care; expanding the availability of new technologies and technical education in rural areas; and enhancing the quality of life for his constituents.

Peterson received the lowest possible environmental rating from the League of Conservation Voters in 2006, casting what the group qualified as anti-environment votes on twelve out of twelve critical issues ranging from oil drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, salvage logging and logging roads, and the Clean Water Act, to the Toxics Release Inventory program and low-income energy assistance.

In addition to assigning the representative a score of zero for his voting record, REP censured him individually for "efforts to remove the moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf gas drilling through the Interior appropriations process.

"[4] According to the League of Conservation Voters, "natural gas drilling can create massive amounts of water and air pollution and can leave open the possibility of oil spills, which would be toxic for a wide variety of marine and coastal life.

As a member of the Interior appropriations subcommittee, Peterson worked diligently to remove a 27-year-old moratorium on producing oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).