Washington ? Deadly chemical runoff and suffocating loads of sediment plague the Mississippi River, and the governors of Missouri, Illinois and three other states in the river basin want an accounting of the problem.

A bill in Congress would do just that, and now that Democrats have taken control, it could speed to passage.

“The Congress is definitely a deeper shade of green after these elections,” said Melinda Pierce, a Sierra Club lobbyist.

Policy shifts promised

The Mississippi River bill has a modest price tag and focuses on a regional problem. It’s one type of narrower environmental initiative that Democrats will probably seek to guide through when they take control of Congress in January 4. But Democratic leaders are setting their sights higher as well, promising several major policy shifts:

¢ Repealing tax subsidies for big oil companies and investing those dollars in renewable energy technology.

¢ Curbing greenhouse gases and other emissions that contribute to global warming.

¢ Speeding the cleanup of toxic waste dumps.

But ambitious efforts may get only so far. Pierce said it wouldn’t be easy for major pieces of environmental legislation to make it across the finish line.

She added: “The more general tenor is: We’re not going to be playing defense anymore and then a slow shift toward knocking off some of these good, forward-thinking energy proposals.”

“It’s ripe for change in a broad range of areas,” said Nat Mund, the league’s deputy legislative director. “We’re looking at a different set of solutions who will be more focused on protecting natural resources than exploiting them.”

Pierce advised Democrats to start a dialogue about overarching issues, such as global warming, while passing smaller, “less sexy” initiatives that begin to address those broader problems.

“We’ll be setting the agenda and picking off wins, in the meantime, until 2009” when a new president takes office, she said.

Obstacles remain

But even when that happens, Democrats still may find it tough to pass major environmental policies, said Bill Kovacs, vice president of environment and regulatory affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“That doesn’t mean they’re not going to have oversight hearings,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be sound and fury. But I’m betting it’ll be very difficult to get anything through.

“It’s sorta like the old story of, what does the dog do when he catches the car? Do you really want to be the party that pushes through, let’s say, a cap-and-trade system for CO2 and limit the amount of energy the country can use?”

He was referring to a proposal to regulate greenhouse gases.

“I’m not sure you do,” he said. “I think the voters would clobber them.”

Mississippi River bill

The Mississippi River basin bill aims to protect the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, where a “dead zone” of oxygen-impaired ocean has grown to roughly the size of New Jersey.

Much of the chemical waste in that “dead zone” originates in the river’s upper basin, which includes Missouri and Illinois and its river main systems.

But few broad-based attempts have been made to examine and quantify the problems with chemicals and sediment draining into the Mississippi.

Under the bill, the U.S. Geological Survey would get $63 million over a decade to collect data and create computer models so scientists can pinpoint the primary sources of such runoff.

Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., the bill’s sponsor, called sediment and chemical runoff issues “the greatest threat” facing the Mississippi River.

He’d like to win final approval for the legislation before Christmas, but he might have to wait until next year.