The following article is from the February 2007 issue of

In January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her plans to create a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming [1]. The new committee will hold hearings on climate change but will not have any legislative writing powers. Pelosi has called on the House to pass a bill based on her committee's recommendations by July 4.

The move has stirred opposition among members of the Democratic majority, most notably with John Dingell, the long-time Michigan representative who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Some Beltway pundits have suggested that Pelosi set up the committee to sideline Dingell. The Michigan Democrat has strong ties to the Detroit auto industry and has opposed the type of reductions in motor vehicle emissions that Pelosi may be after.

In an editorial [2], the New York Times applauded the move by Pelosi, seeing it as a first-time effort by the House to take on an issue that has long been a Senate-only concern. However, the paper also stated that Mr. Dingell's support of legislation is "essential." "If anything is to happen in the House, it will need Mr. Dingell's participation and consent."

Pelosi's announcement comes at a time when climate change is increasingly taking center stage in national politics. Some of the nation's biggest companies have created the United States Climate Action Partnership [3] to urge federal legislation that will curb greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change earned mention for the first time in President Bush's State of the Union speech [4], while the U.S. Senate began hearings last week on global warming proposals.