For Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee, the threat of global warming is here and now and it’s huge. But he believes the impending crisis will propel a clean energy revolution. So when the House Energy Committee sketched out a plan last week to combat climate change, Inslee saw a pathway to a bright future.

Inslee “This is the first step in really building a new clean-energy economy, building millions of green collar jobs, and really reducing our dependence on foreign oil, as well as cutting pollution that’s such a danger to us right now.”

The centerpiece of the House bill is a cap and trade system. The cap is a nation-wide emissions limit set by the government. It would decline each year so that by 2050, the US would generate eighty percent fewer emissions than in 2005. Each company would have to get emissions permits from the government. And those emit less can sell their credits on a carbon market. Inslee says it’s key to tightly monitor and regulate the trading.

Inslee “So that we don’t allow the derivatives market to swallow this up a live. We’ll have Eliot Ness and water boarding to make sure that people don’t engage in any nefarious activities.”

But Seattle Democrat Jim McDermott believes there will be too many bad guys for the government to catch. For him, a carbon market would be equivalent to the subprime housing mess on steroids.

McDermott “The cap and trade system is absolutely the bankers on Wall Street’s wildest dream come true, because they’ll have access to a huge amount of money, and they can manipulate 30, 40, 50 years in advance and they’ll have a futures market and everything else. You have to believe in a tooth fairy to believe that we can regulate a cap and trade system.”

McDermott has drafted his own plan that he calls “cap and permit.” Instead of charging all companies, he wants oil and coal producers to pay for emissions permits. To him, it’s easier to block the headwater than to build a big wide dam downstream. And he wants to get rid of the carbon market and have the government send money back to consumers. Whether it’s cap-and-trade or cap-and-permit, burning oil and coal would become more costly. That doesn’t sit well with Democrat Dan Boren from Oklahoma.

Boren “I have one of the poorest Congressional districts in the country. And the last thing that we want to see happen is grandma and grandpa in a fixed income and they don’t have much disposable income for them to have a two or three hundred dollar bill--can really affect their bottom line whether or not they are going to buy prescription drugs or buy groceries.” (:21)

Democrats from fossil fuel producing states want to secure a place for refiners and coal mines in America’s energy future. Midwestern Democrats are worried that higher energy cost will force factories to close. Even Washington State, which runs largely on hydropower and natural gas, may feel some of the sting from federal regulations of greenhouse gases. Second District Democrat Rick Larsen has concerns.

Larsen “I myself have four refineries in my district which has their own emissions but also produce gas for cars and cars produce emissions, so I think it’s gonna be a balancing act to get to a final bill.”

From now to a final bill, Democrats have a lot of work to do to close their ranks. They’ve already added subsidies for clean coal and manufacturers. Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole, who’s a member of the Republican leadership team, sees an opening.

Cole “The Democratic coalition is very weak. They are going to have a very hard time achieving unity on their side in the House, and I think it will be even worse in the Senate.”

But even if Republicans manage to keep Democrats divided, the Obama administration can regulate carbon dioxide through an existing law. President Barack Obama has not ruled out that plan, but said he prefers lawmakers to craft a compromise.

For KUOW News, I'm Yanmei Xie from Capitol News Connection.