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For Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, the road to passing legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions began two-and-a-half years ago in a congressional subcommittee that he chaired.

The panel conducted 27 days of hearings on climate change and spent four months drafting a bill on controlling emissions. That work became the foundation for the voluminous American Clean Energy and Security Act, which narrowly cleared the House of Representatives late Friday.

Boucher remained a key player in guiding the bill to the House floor this year and negotiating provisions that he views as favorable to the coal industry in his district and to constituents concerned about rising electric bills.

"For a member of Congress to have the opportunity to have a fundamental role in shaping legislation such as this is just a form of professional opportunity," Boucher said in a telephone interview minutes after Friday evening's vote. "And I have enjoyed this work. I feel fulfilled by it. And my work on it has not ended."

Boucher said he already is involved in discussions with members of the Senate, which will take up the legislation this fall.

The bill is designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. It would limit emissions from major industrial sources such as power plants, factories and refineries, and it would create a cap-and-trade system that would allow pollution credits to be bought and sold.

The bill has been championed by President Obama and its supporters insist it will reduce pollution that contributes to global warming, reduce dependence on foreign oil and create new energy technology jobs. Republicans and major industry groups argue that the measure will increase taxes and energy costs and cause jobs to move overseas.

Boucher, whose district stretches from the coalfields to the Alleghany Highlands, said on the House floor Friday that his focus "was to keep electricity rates affordable and to enable utilities to continue using coal."

The Environmental Protection Agency projects that coal usage will grow by 2020, Boucher said. And, he added, "as transportation electrifies, the demand for electricity increases, and coal, our most abundant fuel, will still be the fuel of choice to meet that rising demand."

Republican Bob Goodlatte , R-Roanoke County, took a starkly different view of the bill Friday, calling it "suicide for the American economy."

Goodlatte said the measure "raises taxes, kills jobs and will lead to more government intrusion."

Goodlatte said he visited with Norfolk Southern Corp. executives and workers in Roanoke earlier this week and "person after person brought up this bill and the impact it will have on jobs." He also said it will drive up costs for farmers.

Mark George, the vice president of MeadWestvaco's paper mill in Covington, wrote in a Thursday opinion piece in The Roanoke Times that the bill is too complex, too expensive to implement and narrowly focused on domestic emissions. He said the measure would put the Covington mill "at a significant competitive disadvantage."

Boucher disagreed, saying the bill helps industries control costs by allowing for investment in emissions offsets. The bill would not be economically sustainable without the offsets, Boucher said. He said the company has "ignored the basic way in which we're keeping this legislation affordable."

Freshman Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Albemarle County, also voted for the bill, calling the measure "pro-market, pro-innovation, pro-nuclear and biofuels and pro-job creation."