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Markey, Sensenbrenner to Head Global Warming Panel

House leaders on Friday announced the 15-member roster of the newly created Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has asked Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to serve as chairman, while Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Jay Inslee (Wash.), John Larson (Conn.), Hilda Solis (Calif.), Stephanie Herseth (S.D.), Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.), John Hall (N.Y.), and Jerry McNerney (Calif.) comprise the remainder of the nine-member Democratic side.

“The members of the new Select Committee I am appointing today are outstanding for their creativity, diversity of experience, and knowledge of energy and global warming issues,” Pelosi said in a statement. “I have great faith in their ability to lead our efforts to confront these serious challenges.

On the GOP side, House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) has asked Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (Wis.) to serve as ranking member, while Republican Reps. John Shadegg (Ariz.), Greg Walden (Ore.), Candice Miller (Mich.), John Sullivan (Okla.), and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) will fill out the roster.

The 15 members chosen by the two leaders suggests the panel could become a partisan battleground, as Pelosi has tapped Members who largely believe that man-made global warming exists, whereas Boehner has selected more conservative lawmakers with skeptical views on the subject.

Republicans originally protested Pelosi’s decision to create a select committee rather than go through the Energy and Commerce Committee, but they will participate in the effort.

“While we don’t believe this special panel is necessary to pursue these goals and study the issue of climate change, our intention is to participate fully in the process and to fully engage our Democratic colleagues in the debate and the search for consensus,” Boehner said in a statement.

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