(For full coverage on the climate talks, click on [nLL527527])

* Republicans boycott key Senate committee work

* Republicans want more information from the EPA

* Unclear when vote will be held on carbon-capping bill

* U.S. business group says wants to help mold legislation (New throughout)

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on a key committee kicked off a debate on reducing U.S. carbon dioxide pollution on Tuesday despite a boycott by Republicans who want to delay climate change legislation.

In a day that saw political maneuvering by both political parties, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer ended the first work session telling reporters she sensed a "fundamental shift" in the debate because of a letter she received from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The business group, which has long opposed climate change legislation, said it wanted to engage in a "new conversation" on the issue.

It called proposals by Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham a "positive, practical and realistic framework for legislation".

But it did not embrace the central approach of the legislation before Boxer's committee: government mandating carbon dioxide emission reductions on industry.

Republicans on the environment committee boycotted Tuesday's sessions, saying Congress needed more information about the impact of the legislation before moving ahead.

But most of them have long opposed the carbon-reduction bill and instead want to expand nuclear power in the United States, along with encouraging more oil drilling, which would do nothing to attack global warming problems.

SENATE VOTE UNLIKELY BEFORE COPENHAGEN

Democrats countered that the Environmental Protection Agency had issued hundreds of thousands of pages of analysis underpinning climate bills, which would force utilities, oil refineries and factories to cut carbon emissions 20 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

Kerry acknowledged many changes were in store for the bill, but told reporters there was no need to "waste time" on further analysis.

Boxer said her committee would try to resume work on the legislation -- with the ultimate goal of putting it to a vote -- at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.

She declined to say whether she would delay action if Republicans continued their boycott.

She has been aiming to win committee approval this month, before an international global warming summit in Copenhagen that begins on Dec. 7. Officials are meeting in Barcelona this week in one of the final work sessions before Copenhagen.

This kind of bickering is not unusual in Congress and Democrats in the past have waged their own boycotts before allowing measures to advance.

But the climate change legislation faces particularly tough odds in the Senate, where several moderate Democrats, many from coal states, have also complained.

One of those Democrats, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania who is running for re-election next year, told Boxer's panel he wanted to see "a number of modifications" to the bill, which he said he would outline in the future.

Kerry, who worked with Boxer to write the pending bill, told reporters he would meet on Wednesday with top aides of President Barack Obama to work out a "framework" for a compromise bill that would include incentives for more U.S. nuclear power production and oil drilling.

He said it would be possible to stitch together such a bill by the end of the year. Nevertheless, the full Senate is not expected to pass a climate change bill this year.

The lone Republican to attend Tuesday's work session was Senator George Voinovich, who told the panel: "This is not a stalling tactic ... this is not a ruse."

Republicans, he insisted, were making "a genuine attempt" to ensure members have the best information available.

The House of Representatives in June narrowly approved a climate change bill similar to the one Boxer's committee is reviewing.

In recent days, Obama and others have begun to play down expectations for the Copenhagen talks, saying that while some sort of deal could be reached, it likely would lay the groundwork "for further progress in the future."

Many environmentalists expect the Copenhagen summit to result in setting a new date, possibly in mid-2010, for wrapping up the negotiations. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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