FACTBOX: Key U.S. states, issues in climate bill fight

(Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Senate are trying to make progress on a climate change bill to give a boost to an international global warming summit in Copenhagen in December.

A key Senate committee holds high-profile hearings this week, but passage by the full Senate was unlikely this year.

Passage, this year or next, will depend partly on conflicting pressures lawmakers face in their home states. Attracting support from moderate Democrats, along with at least a few centrist Republicans, in some of those states is considered essential.

Here is a look at some of the main issues and players:

WEST VIRGINIA -- KING COAL

First discovered in the state in 1742, coal is buried in 53 of the state's 55 counties and contributes directly to about 40,000 jobs. About 14 percent of U.S. coal production comes from West Virginia, ranking it second behind Wyoming.

So it's no surprise that Democratic Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller want to make sure any climate bill passed by the Senate does not move too fast in mandating reductions in carbon emissions from dirty coal-burning utilities and factories.

Rockefeller denounced the bill when it was outlined by fellow Democrats John Kerry and Barbara Boxer on September 30. He wants to make sure there is more time for "clean coal" technology to be developed before emission-reduction targets start to bite.

ARKANSAS -- POVERTY AND DUCKS

Switching from cheap fossil fuels to more expensive wind, solar and other alternative energies likely would raise consumer prices.

Senators representing poor states fear such increases, even small ones. Democratic Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor worry that a climate change bill could hurt rice and soybean farmers and others in Arkansas, which ranks fourth in the country in poverty.

Lincoln chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which also will review the climate bill.

But sometimes it is life's personal experiences that influence a senator's vote.

In testimony to a Senate panel in January 2007, Lincoln noted her past opposition to a climate bill but had come to believe that "we must take action" to control global warming.

One reason: She comes from a family of duck hunters and the birds might stop migrating as far south as Arkansas because of warmer temperatures in some Northern states. That, she said, could have a devastating impact on Arkansas' sportsmen and local economies.

Recently, Lincoln has been talking about a more limited approach to climate change for now -- passage of just an alternative energy bill that many of her colleagues worry would be insufficient in the climate fight.