WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Not since Nicolas Copernicus declared the Earth orbits the sun has a theory about the planet spawned so much controversy.

Now comes amateur scientist and former Vice President Al Gore who has put global warming at the center of American political debate” to testify on Capitol Hill about this topic that already so deeply divides people, even scientists.

Other than the Iraq war, no issue this year has dominated Congress more as Democrats assert their newfound authority to pass legislation to curb the heating of the globe.

If his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” is any indication, Gore will tell lawmakers that in 10 years, “a point will have been passed and there will be an irreversible slide into destruction.”

And, “Our ability to live is what is at stake.”

It will be the first public questioning of Gore by one of the loudest and most unflinching global warming skeptics, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who chaired the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee until Republicans lost control last year. He has openly speculated that fears of manmade catastrophic global warming may be the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people.

Inhofe especially delights in skewering scientists, and the reporters who cover them, as modern-day Chicken Littles. He recently made available to the public his “Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Global Warming,” a 65-page booklet of speeches, articles and scientific data that question the theory of global warming.

But nothing delights Inhofe so much as when the weather refuses to cooperate and snowstorms cancel a hearing on global warming or a frostbite injury ends the arctic trek of scientists studying global warming.

Gore will get no more of a sympathetic ear in his appearance before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he will be grilled by Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich.

Dingell, the “dean” of House Democrats who represents Michigan’s auto industry, does not share the fears of Democratic leaders who consider global warming a “threat to national security.” He opposes raising fuel–efficiency standards because that pinches automakers and the workers they employ.

The conflict is such that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., earlier this year removed climate change matters from the jurisdiction of Dingell’s committee and created an entirely new committee.

The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Pelosi has promised, will come up with legislation by July 4.

“We should probably name it the committee on world travel and junkets,” Dingell told The Associated Press after Pelosi announced the creation of the new panel. “We’re just empowering a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs to go around and make speeches and make commitments that will be very difficult to honor.”

churt@dcexaminer.com