CAPITOL HILL LAWMAKERS TO TACKLE GLOBAL WARMING FEINSTEIN PACKAGE INCLUDES FIVE BILLS; OTHERS HAVE IDEAS.

Byline: LISA FRIEDMAN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- As California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced sweeping vehicle-pollution cuts Tuesday, lawmakers on Capitol Hill prepared their own assault against greenhouse-gas emissions.

House lawmakers are expected to unveil legislation today that would divert $20 billion in oil subsidies toward the production of alternative fuels.

Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein is putting the finishing touches on a package of five global-warming bills even as a host of other senators, from New Mexico to Illinois, set forth their own proposals for addressing greenhouse-gas emissions.

``It's very compelling to see how many senators and members of Congress want to act on this,'' said Julia Bovey, spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Congressional action comes as California, which has led the nation in addressing efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, announced a 10 percent cut in carbon-dioxide emissions.

Environmental advocates expect the House to vote to divert oil subsidies by Jan. 18, capping Democrats' ``First 100 Hours'' agenda.

While details are expected to be hammered out well into tonight, activists say the bill will focus on redirecting federal funding and tax breaks now given to oil companies toward the production of wind, solar and other renewable and alternative energies.

Some dissent already is percolating, however, as lawmakers haggle over whether to reallocate the funding toward specific research and development or create a new fund from which dollars would later be meted out.

While creating a new pot of money could make the bill a sweeter pill to swallow for opponents, environmental activists say they fear that money could be diverted toward nuclear energy or coal-to-liquid fuel, which many call as harmful as emissions.

Oil company lobbyists and others have been fighting the proposal. Myron Ebell, a global-warming skeptic with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, called increasing subsidies for alternative energy ``going back in a really naive way to the disastrous policies of the 1970s.''

Feinstein's package, meanwhile, will include five bills that range from setting fuel-economy standards to an energy-efficiency measure that looks to California as a model for reducing greenhouse gases.

An alternative-fuels measure would provide funding incentives for the production of biomass and the ethanol blend known as E85.

Feinstein's office is holding details of the package, to be officially released next week, close to the vest. But a proposal she shopped around last year called for establishing a mandatory cap-and-trade system strengthened gradually over time and aimed at reducing emissions by 7 1/4 percent of current levels.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, who will outline her global-warming agenda today as new chairman of the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee, said she is open to the market-based tool for creating an incentive to lower emissions.

But, she said, ``I want to know what the cap is. That's the key.''

Boxer remained positive but noncommittal as bills from Feinstein and others emerge and head toward her committee.

``I'm going to take the best of everybody's bills,'' she said.

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

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