DEADWOOD, S.D. - It was something of a jolt when the governors of the traditionally conservative, independent American West - where "environmentalist" can be an epithet - joined in calling on the federal government to not only partner with them in developing clean energy sources, but to enter the battle against global warming.

"All of us - the country, states, industry and individuals - must change our behavior if we are to succeed in addressing climate change," said the Western Governors' Association's new chairman, Gov. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, a Democrat.

Not to be outdone, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., vice chairman and a Republican, said the West is on the cusp of a revolution. "If we do this right, our citizens are going to have a better quality of life, we're going to spawn new technologies and industries, and we're going to leave our most important belongings in better shape for the next generation."

Though California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was absent from the association's annual meeting this week, you wouldn't have known it from the green rhetoric.

Bringing it home

But less forthcoming from the top state executives was a strategy for taking their revolution back to their own statehouses. There they might find enthusiasm for battling global warming scarce - with or without an influx of federal clean-energy research cash to develop, in particular, coal-power technology.

Though Christopher Field, director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and other scientists assured the governors that "there's not a reputable organization in the world that opposes the core conclusions" on global warming, quite a few Western politicians do.

Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, is not alone in Utah's Legislature when he calls environmentalists' near-apocalyptic predictions "junk science."

"Show me the rational argument. Show me the science that this is happening," Dougall argues. "Just because global warming is the fad du jour - who cares?"

Huntsman, however, said at the conference: "All we can do as policymakers is rely on the best information. What you have to do is go on the findings and directives of nine out of 10 scientists around the world."

Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake City, who saw her bill for a credit for buying energy-efficient vehicles get swatted down in the last session, says: "The Utah Legislature has a steep learning curve. It's going to take a substantially different way of thinking, particularly in the area of transportation."

Many Republican Utah lawmakers, in fact, were miffed last month when Huntsman joined Schwarzenegger in his Western Regional Climate Action Initiative that calls for a cap on greenhouse gases, which scientists believe accelerate the planet's warming trend.

The opposition in Utah, moreover, doesn't just come from the GOP.

"Huntsman, before he gets too far into it, should look at the economics," said Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price. Dmitrich, who represents Utah's coal country, was the author of a 1998 resolution - passed overwhelmingly in the Legislature - calling on the governor to prohibit state agencies from taking any action to reduce greenhouse gases.

The outgoing chairman of the governors, Gov. Michael Rounds of South Dakota, may not have known how right he was when he said energy and global warming policies "are not Republican or Democratic issues."

From blue and red to green

The Western Governors' Association as a group has tipped Democratic over the last two election cycles, with 11 of 19 being Democrats. But all seem to agree the global warming challenges of drought, wildfire and tapping clean energy resources dwarf party politics.

"The only people who get excited about [the governors' political shift] are the media and the professional politicos," says Freudenthal, arguing that citizens pay little attention to party politics and expect their governors to push as hard on environmental issues whether they are red or blue. "Huntsman is clearly vocal on this issue, and he's clearly Republican."

"If you closed your eyes and listened," Rounds said of the three-day conference, "you would have a hard time determining who were the Republicans and who were Democrats."

The newest Democrat in the group, Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado, agrees the Western governors "have far more in common than they have differences."

But he says the increase in Democratic leadership shows a shift in attitude in the West, calling for aggressive leadership on environmental issues.

"Hunters, anglers, ranchers, no matter their party stripe, care that we have sound and sensible 21st century environmental policies," Ritter says. "On an issue like this, Democrats are willing to tell the oil and gas industry, 'We want you to continue to thrive as an industry - but we will monitor and we will be stewards of the land.' ''

This ground-up pressure on climate change has prompted mayors such as Salt Lake City's Rocky Anderson and other local leaders to launch initiatives to cut greenhouse gases. Local and now state action seems to be a reaction to Washington's inaction.

Wyoming's Freudenthal emphasizes the group's willingness to partner with the federal government to develop clean energy and reduce greenhouse gases does not mean the West is giving up its independence. "It's consistent with the sagebrush rebellion in that we are telling the federal government to do what they should do," he says, "and stay the hell out of the rest of it."