Cross posted from our energy topics page:

Seeking to turn the tables in the controversy over high-profile defections from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Tom Donohue told reporters today that members are facing orchestrated pressure from environmental groups to quit the chamber and that his organization fully supports taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In an hour-long sit-down with about a dozen reporters this morning at the chamber's headquarters, Donohue repeatedly said that he's "not particularly worried" about the recent defections, which have included Apple and the major utilities Exelon, PNM Resources and Pacific Gas & Electric.

"I'm worried about making sure people understand what we believe, what we're trying to achieve and who we're trying to do this for," he said. He didn't, however, say which environmental groups were pressuring the chamber's members.

While Donohue held fast in his opposition to the House's Waxman-Markey climate change bill on a wide range of economic grounds, he did indicate that the group was softening its earlier stance that any legislation should require "full international participation."

Donohue said today that while international cooperation should be the ultimate goal, "the United States could go ahead and put ahead a bill that did not address that initially," he said. "I'm saying we need both."

Today's Q&A follows a series of assertive steps the chamber has taken in the wake of the defections and public statements from other member companies expressing concern with the chamber's position on climate change. Donohue wrote a curt letter responding to Apple CEO Steve Jobs after the tech giant announced it was leaving this week, and the chamber released a lengthy press release on its climate change stance after the departure of Exelon, the country's largest nuclear operator.

Environmental groups say these moves show that the chamber is worried about its "credibility and brand value," said Pete Altman, climate change director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who has been criticizing the chamber incessantly for weeks.

Donohue's letter to Jobs wasn't really a message to Apple, Altman said, but to "other companies in the chamber that might be thinking about withdrawing." When asked about that today, Donohue dismissed the notion and said he wanted to answer Jobs' criticism about the chamber's opposition to regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Also on hand at today's meeting were Bruce Josten, the chamber's executive vice president for government affairs, and Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, the chamber's political action arm on energy. Donohue, and especially Harbert, made clear that the chamber's primary goal is still reviving the economy and creating 20 million jobs over the next 10 years. They acknowledged that might be an uneasy fit with emissions reductions.

Harbert cited a recent report by the Energy Information Administration that found the economic crisis has caused a nearly 6 percent drop in the amount of domestic greenhouse gases emitted. "If the goal is to then triple that amount of reduction between now and 2020, we don't want to have to triple the economic problem," Harbert said. "So, we're trying to put solutions on the table that will allow us to grow our economy and still achieve reductions. It's a daunting tax but we certainly don't want to see the achievement at the expense at the economy."