Representative Henry Waxman, an advocate for pollution controls, won the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday, ousting auto-industry ally John Dingell of Michigan.

''The champion of the environment has replaced the champion of the automotive industry,'' said Daniel Becker, an environmental lawyer and director of the Safe Climate Campaign.

House Democrats voted 137-122 for Waxman in a secret ballot, lawmakers said. Waxman, who currently leads the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he argued that a change in leadership of the energy panel was needed to work with the administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

''We have a new opportunity that maybe comes only once in a generation,'' Waxman said. ``We must meet the challenge.''

The Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over energy, health care and telecommunications and will have a central role in passing several of Obama's highest legislative priorities when Congress reconvenes next year.

Obama has promised to spend $15 billion a year to help private industry develop clean energy technology and to institute a cap- and-trade system to reduce emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Waxman's win signals rough times ahead for energy producers, said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a free-market research group in Washington.

''Waxman is as liberal as it gets, and he's a very effective legislator,'' Pyle said. For energy providers, Waxman's win creates ``about as hostile a climate as there could possibly be.''

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a Washington-based environmental advocacy group, Thursday called Waxman ``a leader on global warming for many years.''

With Waxman, 69, as chairman, legislation to address climate change ''will happen faster and smoother,'' said Representative Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat. ``Henry is in a better position to guide it.''

Dingell, who waged a public campaign promoting letters of endorsement from members, congratulated Waxman on his victory, calling 2008 ``clearly a change year.''

Dingell, 82, served as the top Democrat on the energy panel for 28 years, as chairman when Democrats were in the majority and as the ranking member when Republicans controlled Congress. He has served in the House since 1955. His wife is the president of the General Motors Foundation.

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