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After waiting for decades to take over one of the most powerful committees in the House, new Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is plunging headfirst into the heated debates over energy policy, global warming and health care reform — politically charged issues fraught with economic peril that fall under his new panel’s purview.

The Californian vowed to pass legislation in all three areas last November, when he made the surprise announcement he would challenge the 82-year-old dean of the House, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), for the energy gavel. While some political insiders and policy experts have urged caution in taking up such big-ticket items in a tanking economy, Waxman said recently he intends to move full-speed ahead on his pledge, even if it means getting ahead of President Barack Obama’s agenda.

“We’re going to start moving on these issues,” Waxman said in an interview last month. “We certainly want to work with the administration, but I don’t think we have to wait until they’ve completed all of their work on a proposal.”

The massive $825 billion economic stimulus that passed the House last week contains a hefty down payment on key aspects of the agenda. Renewable energy and efficiency measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would see tens of billions of dollars under the plan, which also invests $20 billion in long-sought improvements for health information technology.

Waxman said various subcommittees will work simultaneously on his broader agenda, but he’s already laid out a Memorial Day deadline for advancing comprehensive energy and global warming legislation through the full panel. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last month that she’s aiming for a vote on the bill before international climate talks get under way in Denmark in early December. A Senate timetable has not been determined.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who as chairman of the new Subcommittee on Energy and Environment has been tasked by Waxman for getting the climate ball rolling, last month said he will build upon existing cap-and-trade proposals, including one authored last year by Dingell and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.). Under cap-and-trade, the government determines an annual limit on total greenhouse gas emissions and allocates emission credits that can be traded, banked or sold, to meet the cap.

While cap-and-trade has emerged as the preferred Congressional approach for addressing global warming, finding consensus on the numerous details of the complex scheme remains a key hurdle to passage. For instance, parochial splits are likely to emerge among Democrats on the Energy panel over such details as how the emission credits are distributed, as well as the schedule for reducing emissions.

Markey, Waxman and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who also sits on the panel, last year spelled out a list of stringent climate principles backed by more than 150 House lawmakers, while more moderate Democrats such as Dingell and Boucher will legislate with an eye on the economic impact of the plan on their respective auto- and coal-producing districts.

Inslee downplayed the Democratic divisions in a recent interview, emphasizing what he termed a “pretty broad and deep consensus” among Democrats everywhere for curtailing carbon dioxide emissions.

However, he acknowledged tough negotiations lie ahead for committee Democrats.

“Different geographic regions are going to have to work together to find resolutions to these concerns,” he said.

Meanwhile, committee Republicans, who have never embraced cap-and-trade to begin with, will likely seek to exploit Democratic divisions over coal and nuclear in an effort to shape the legislation.