WASHINGTON - Even though Republicans will control both houses of Congress, President Bush will face significant obstacles next year as he tries to push some of his highest-profile environmental initiatives.

Bush's goal of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas development may prove as elusive as ever, according to environmentalists, lawmakers from both parties and their aides.

At least one new Republican senator, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, is likely to join a pack of seven or eight others who oppose the president's plan. That's more than enough to offset the Republicans' slim 51-48 edge in the new Senate.

And the president's legislative prescription for air pollution from coal-fired power plants will still face significant and possibly insuperable opposition.

Moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee of Rhode Island will probably make it difficult for the president to pass his air-pollution plan out of the Senate Environment Committee. Chafee often votes with the Democrats on the committee, turning a 10-8 Republican majority into a 9-9 deadlock.

"To the extent that the administration overplays its hand and tries to dismantle fundamental environmental protections, they're going to find that the checks are going to come from their own party and from both houses," said Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation, an environmental group.

But while some high-priority legislative changes might remain out of reach, the Bush administration is likely to find a clearer path to curtailing environmental regulations. Easier budget negotiations, less congressional oversight and friendlier courts will all work in the administration's favor.

"The danger in many of these issues may not be the direct efforts to weaken laws so much as the efforts to undermine the law by changes to the budget process or regulatory reforms," said Gregory Wetstone, director of advocacy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental group.

Elizabeth Shogren is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.