By Ian Talley and Fawn Johnson
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Thursday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will likely renew the special select committee on global warming.
Pelosi created the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming two years ago to highlight her agenda to pass legislation that would cut greenhouse gases. With the outspoken Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., appointed as its chair, the panel was originally established to counter the more moderate Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, John Dingell, D-Mich.
"(The panel is) set to expire, but the speaker will probably renew it. ..That's what I've heard," Waxman told reporters after the House Democratic Caucus elected him to replace Dingell in a hard-fought battle to head the Energy and Commerce Committee.
"We'll benefit from their work," he added.
It wasn't immediately clear if Markey would continue as chairman. There had been some analyst speculation that Waxman would replace Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., chairman of the subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality and a supporter of the coal industry, with Markey.
While the Energy and Commerce Committee has the power to develop climate change bills, the select panel has no legislative power.
-By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com
-By Fawn Johnson, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9263, fawn.johnson@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=ZeJWYD76SSUIrDh7xN%2BBbg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 20, 2008 14:37 ET (19:37 GMT)

Publié le 20 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones