California's effort to lead the nation in battling global warming has set off a major fight among House Democrats, pitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi's efforts to slash greenhouse gases against her colleagues' desire to protect the auto and coal industries. The intra-party feud went public yesterday at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing when Pelosi's allies accused the panel's top Democrats of pushing a plan, backed by automakers, to block California and 11 other states from enforcing their tough rules limiting emissions from vehicles. The committee's chairman, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said that allowing California, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to all set greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency rules would lead to chaos and hurt the auto industry. -- SPA
