Global Warming Politics Getting Hotter In Congress

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore is to testify this week before a House committee about climate change, an issue that has fueled a political struggle between two of the chamber's most powerful members.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., voice similar expressions of concern. Dingell, the 80-year-old dean of the House, said last week that climate change "has emerged as the central environmental issue of our time." Pelosi, a political generation younger, warns of "a future in which global warming will reshape our planet and society."

Beneath the surface lie differences over what Congress should do, how fast it should act and — most important — who will control the agenda.

Dingell, a tenacious and wily veteran of many a legislative scrap, seems to be winning so far.

Pelosi has softened her pledge to produce a bill mandating a "cap-and-trade" limit on greenhouse gases by the July 4 recess and has given up a plan to create a special committee to handle the legislation.

She got House approval for creation of a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and named Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., as chairman. But the select committee will have no power to consider legislation.

Dingell's committee will keep that.

Environmentalists, who were buoyed by Pelosi's early statements about the urgency of global warming, say they are not disappointed in the outcome of the struggle, at least so far.

"Under Pelosi's leadership, the House is being very active on global warming, and Chairman Dingell is running a vigorous process to come up with constructive proposals," said David Doniger, head of the climate change program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an organization vocally opposed to global warming controls, said he also was pleased that Dingell retained control of committee consideration of the legislation.

"People who want global warming legislation last year will have to wait for him to do it the way he wants to," Ebell said. "We will probably oppose the bill when he writes it, but we're sure that it will be a serious bill."

Although Dingell is generally regarded as a liberal, he has driven other liberals crazy for years on two issues.

An avid hunter, he has used his House influence to help defeat gun control legislation.

And his opposition to stricter gas mileage standards for automobiles once earned him the nickname "Tailpipe Johnny" from frustrated environmentalists.

The Detroit area's representative in Congress has been named John Dingell since shortly after Henry Ford stopped building Model A's there. John Dingell Sr. served in the House from 1933 until 1955.

When he died in office, his 29-year-old son was elected to serve out the term, and has been re-elected 26 times.

In recent years, John Dingell Jr.'s only serious race was the Democratic primary of 2002, when he and a fellow Democrat, Rep. Lynn Rivers, were reapportioned into the same district.

Rivers received a $10,000 PAC contribution from then-Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who was said to be unhappy with Dingell's opposition to gun control.

When Rivers appeared to be piling up strong support among female voters, Dingell called on an old friend — Gore, along with his wife, Tipper — to come to Michigan to campaign for him. Dingell won.

The pair's links in Congress reach back to 1977, when a newly elected Gore was assigned to Dingell's Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell became a mentor, and when Gore was elected to the Senate in 1984 he became an outspoken proponent of climate change initiatives and action to protect the ozone layer.

Since cars account for an estimated 30 percent of U.S. emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, Dingell's longtime support of the automobile industry in its resistance to corporate automobile fuel economy, or CAFE standards, has worried advocates of global warming controls.

Their concern was heightened a few days after last November's elections when he announced that he would hire Dennis Fitzgibbons, then the chief lobbyist for Daimler-Chrysler, to be the committee's chief of staff.

In January, Pelosi announced to the Democratic caucus that she intended to create a special committee with jurisdiction over climate change legislation. But after it became clear Dingell had wide support in the caucus, Pelosi did not seek jurisdiction for the new panel.

Dingell, had previously announced the climate change would be a central concern of his committee and has repeatedly warned representatives of various industries that all of them should expect to bear some of the pain of greenhouse gas control.

Proceeding with hearings he had scheduled, Dingell invited Gore to testify before his committee, telling him, "We can think of no better way to begin the committee's consideration of climate change policy than to hear from you."

He sent a memo informing members of the committee, adding, "I can assure you that we will also be asking to hear from experts who have very different views."

Gore has also agreed to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.