WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has agreed to a
compromise that ends a three-week turf battle with one of her most
powerful and senior committee chairmen over a special panel on
climate change.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Michigan, chairman of the Energy and Commerce
Committee and the most senior member of the House, had strongly
objected to creation of the select committee that Pelosi said would
put added focus on the need to deal with global warming.

Dingell, in a letter to Pelosi that his office made public
Tuesday, said he was pleased "we have been able to successfully
resolve questions concerning the authorities and responsibilities"
of the new committee.

The letter also was signed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California,
chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who also
had opposed creation of the special panel.

Under the agreement, the new committee -- to be chaired by Rep.
Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts -- will hold hearings and recommend
legislation, but will have no authority to approve legislation. It
also would expire at the end of this Congress.