May 16 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s push for a climate-change law this year has set off a lobbying boom on Capitol Hill, where companies are registering to weigh in at a rate of about one every business day.

Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat crafting legislation in the House, and other lawmakers said they haven’t seen this much intensity since 1993, when the pharmaceutical companies and insurers lined up to combat President Bill Clinton’s proposal, championed by his wife, Hillary, to provide Americans with universal health care.

“We’ve certainly had a steady stream of people in to talk to our staff,” said Waxman, 69, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

So far this year, 82 firms, trade groups and companies such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Boeing Co. and 3M Corp. have signed up to lobby on climate change, Senate filings show. That’s more than four times as many as are registered to lobby on another issue that is mobilizing business, a law that would make it easier for workers to join unions.

The wrangling involves every one of Washington’s top 10 lobbying firms in terms of revenue, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Cassidy & Associates and Ogilvy Government Relations.

Lobbying Firms

Joel Jankowsky, a senior executive partner at Akin Gump, said his team has been meeting with members on the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Science Committees. The firm represents clients such as the Hague, Netherlands-based Shell and Deerfield, Illinois-based CF Industries Holdings Inc., a maker of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers.

Holland & Knight LLP has expanded its team to meet the demand for representation, and is using former Democratic lawmakers Gerry Sikorski and Jim Davis to press the case of clients such as the Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association, which represents companies such as Federal Way, Washington-based Weyerhaeuser Co. and Memphis, Tennessee-based International Paper Co.

The measure being pushed by Waxman and Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, would set up a so- called cap-and-trade program.

Obama Support

It proposes cutting carbon-dioxide emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. The plan, which Obama, 47, has endorsed, would require power plants, factories and other large polluters to obtain permits to emit greenhouse gases. It would also mandate the use of solar and other renewable energy sources. The committee is scheduled to take up the measure May 18.

Supporters said the measure would jumpstart the U.S. economy with new clean-energy jobs, help the environment and reduce oil imports. Opponents said it would increase energy costs and drag down economic growth.

“The amount of activity that’s happening in anticipation of a committee vote is truly unprecedented,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, legislative director for the Washington-based League of Conservation Voters, which is running advertisements criticizing Republican lawmakers for opposing the legislation.

The National Mining Association, a Washington trade group for companies such as San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp.; Richmond, Virginia-based Massey Energy Co., and Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal Co., is seeking free pollution credits for coal-fired power plants to give its members time to develop new technology. It also is asking for a slower timetable for reducing emissions.

‘All Sides’

Lobbying is “as intense as it’s ever been, from all sides,” said Luke Popovich, mining association vice president.

This year, Chicago-based Boeing hired BKSH & Associates Worldwide, the lobby firm of Charlie Black, a top aide in Republican John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and the firm of Linda Daschle, wife of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, to lobby on climate change.

Boeing spokesman Tim Neale said the world’s second-largest commercial-jet maker wants federal subsidies for biofuels, which could replace conventional jet fuel.

St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M, the maker of 55,000 products from Post-it notes to electronic road signs, has already reduced greenhouse-gas emissions at its manufacturing plants, and wants that taken into account in any legislation mandating pollution cuts, said John Woodworth, a senior vice president.

Shaun Wiggins, a spokesman for Shell, Europe’s largest oil producer, called climate change “one of our high-priority issues.”

Targeting Lawmakers

Other groups representing companies are working to reject the measure as it’s currently written. The Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest U.S. business lobby, is targeting lawmakers in 16 energy-producing and manufacturing states, pushing for an international treaty that sets targets for China and other countries so U.S. companies aren’t disadvantaged.

“We are going into the districts and talking to our grassroots and trying to persuade them to talk to the members of Congress,” said Bill Kovacs, a chamber vice president.

Republican lawmakers said they plan to mobilize a powerful group of opponents to the legislation: Consumers who will be angry if the cost of reducing emissions pushes their utility bills higher or forces a factory to close. The House Republicans’ fundraising arm is campaigning against what it calls a “national energy tax.”

“Informed individuals will be the best lobbyists as they talk about their utility bills at their house or their job,” said Representative Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, 59. “When you raise the rates, that job may not stay there.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net; Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 16, 2009 00:01 EDT