Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Friday formally unveiled sweeping legislation to fight climate change and said the 932-page bill enjoyed broad national support.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take up the measure on Monday and have legislation ready for a full House vote by the end of next week, the panel's chairman, Democratic Representative Henry Waxman, said in a statement.
The measure aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020.
"The American Clean Energy and Security Act" is expected to run headlong into opposition from Republicans, who plan to offer some 449 amendments to the bill, according to a list obtained by AFP.
Democrats say the legislation, which creates a cap-and-trade system limiting overall pollution from large industrial sources and then allocating and selling pollution permits, is needed before December global climate talks in Denmark.
The bill "will create millions of new clean energy jobs, save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, promote America's energy independence and security, and cut global warming pollution," said Waxman.
"In support of these goals, this legislation ensures that consumers and industries in all regions of the country are protected," said the California Democrat.
"This bill marks the dawn of the clean energy age," said Democratic Representative Ed Markey, who chairs the panel's subcommittee on energy and the environment, co-author with Waxman of the sweeping bill.
"I am pleased that we have produced a bill that has widespread support from all regions of the country," said Markey, who called the measure "a once-in-a-generation opportunity."
The legislation breaks sharply from President Barack Obama's goal of auctioning off 100 per cent of emissions permits in a bid to raise hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years, which he had hoped to harness to provide a tax credit aimed at offsetting higher energy costs.
The Waxman-Markey bill aims to soften the blow to consumers and ease the transition for some businesses by allocating about 80-85 per cent of so-called "allowances" to utilities, states, households and vulnerable industries.
The rest will be auctioned.
If the House and the Senate - which has also been working on climate change legislation - pass different versions, they would have to craft and approve a compromise bill before Obama can sign it into law.
The electricity sector would get 35 per cent of the allowances with the goal of keeping consumer electricity prices down.
Oil refiners will get two per cent of allowances starting in 2014 and ending in 2026, a step that helped get Democratic lawmakers from states heavily reliant on that sector to back the legislation.
The bill would require utilities, by 2020, to get 15 per cent of their electricity from renewable resources - solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass - and show annual energy savings of five per cent from efficiency measures.
The European Union plan calls for getting 20 per cent of all electricity from renewable resources by 2020.
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