SALEM — Gov. Ted Kulongoski appeared before a legislative panel Thursday to make a personal pitch for his “cap-and-trade” plan aimed at reducing carbon emissions from utilities and other sources.

The cap-and-trade proposal, which has drawn flak from some Oregon business interests, is a key part of Kulongoski’s agenda this year to combat global warming and position Oregon as a leader in the clean energy economy.

In his appearance before the House and Senate environmental committees, the Democratic governor urged lawmakers to take further steps to implement a new Western regional plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

It’s an effort worth making, Kulongoski said, if the state really wants to get serious about global warming.

He urged lawmakers not to be swayed by “naysayers” — namely, some business lobbyists — who say the cap-and-trade approach would raise costs and damage the state’s business climate.

“The unregulated and unmitigated emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is changing our climate, threatening our ecology and keeping us dependent on foreign sources of energy,“’ the governor said.

Oregon is part of the Western Climate Initiative, which would establish a regional market to trade carbon emissions credits, allowing industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy and sell credits. The goal is to cut the region’s carbon emissions to below 2005 levels by 2020, a roughly 15 percent reduction.

Kulongoski’s bill doesn’t ask the Legislature to adopt a cap-and-trade program this year. Instead, it directs the state Environmental Quality Commission to develop a plan and bring it back to the Legislature in 2011.

Still, that process already has drawn complaints from a coalition of business and industries that calls itself Oregonians for Balanced Climate Policy.

Erica Hagedorn, a lobbyist for the coalition, said a cap-and-trade system which could add costs to business and result in emission limits eventually affecting everything from industry smokestacks to car tailpipes.

“If the Legislature really wants to develop a cap and trade system, they should do it here, and not have it done behind closed doors at the Department of Environmental Quality,” Hagedorn said.

But Jeremiah Baumann, program director for the advocacy group Environment Oregon and a strong supporter of Kulongoski’s cap-and-trade effort, said that argument is a smoke screen and that business interests are trying to kill the program before it gets any farther.

“What they are really saying is, “We’re not ready to deal with the problem,’ “ Baumann said. “That leaves them with their head in the sand, while the rest of the world gets ready to build a clean economy and solve global warming.”