CHARLESTON -- U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller is spoiling for a fight as he prepares to run for a fifth term in the Senate.

From oversight of intelligence agencies to commercial aviation, Rockefeller has a list of priorities he knows are likely to provoke intense debate, even if it's not on the campaign trail. Although there's plenty of time left to field a candidate, no Republican has stepped forward to challenge the state's junior senator, and the GOP's state chairman thinks it's unlikely that will change.

"I don't want to sound schmaltzy," Rockefeller said Friday, waving off talk of an unopposed candidacy. "I've been here for 44 years. West Virginia completely changed my life. I know that people here are fighting to get by, and I've always tried to fight for them."

Surrounded by family members, Rockefeller filed his candidacy papers in the Secretary of State office he once occupied, before setting forth his priorities for a fifth term.

At the top of his list is oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says the current process by which intelligence agencies are funded is flawed.

Roughly $40 billion for intelligence agencies come from the Appropriations Committee, but Rockefeller said it makes more sense for the experts on the Intelligence Committee to make budgetary decisions for those agencies. He's considering lending his support to a bill that would authorize his committee to do just that.

"I know that would draw the wrath of many," he said. "Intelligence has never had real oversight. Without oversight, there's no accountability."

Rockefeller also wants to see a major effort to find a way to reduce carbon emissions in the coal-to-liquid process, which he said would spur major economic growth in West Virginia.

"Nobody will ever convince me that smart people cannot find a way to take carbon dioxide out of coal," he said. "If we start on this early enough, we can have really low emissions for a major source of energy."

Another proposal Rockefeller said is likely to cause a "firestorm" of criticism is one that seeks to ease air traffic gridlock by grounding small private jets until commercial flights from nearby airports have taken off.

"How can you tell me that two or three corporate executives flying to a board meeting in Hawaii are more important than a plane carrying 250 or 300 people?" he asked.

The 70-year-old Democrat first came to the Mountain State in 1964 as a VISTA volunteer in the small mining community of Emmons. He has said the experience set the course for the rest of his life.

Rockefeller served in the West Virginia House of Delegates for two years, was secretary of state for one term, served as president of West Virginia Wesleyan College for three years and was a two-term state governor before first being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.

As part of his campaign kickoff, his plans include an event with veterans Friday night at the Raleigh County Armory, a re-election announcement Saturday morning at the Charleston House Holiday Inn, a stop Saturday night in Fairmont and in Shepherdstown on Sunday.

As recently as 2006, some Republicans liked their party's chance to field a viable opponent against Rockefeller, but so far none has stepped forward.

"We've talked to people all across the state encouraging people to run, but nobody wants to do it," said Dr. Douglas McKinney, state Republican chairman. "He's richer than Croesus. People know that they'll have to campaign full-time from now until November just to raise enough money to even be competitive."

The filing deadline for candidates is Jan. 26, although the Republican Party can appoint a candidate as late as Feb. 27.

"I'm very dubious about whether we'll find anyone who wants to challenge Senator Rockefeller," McKinney said.

Outgoing Secretary of State Betty Ireland and 2nd District U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito had both been suggested as possible challengers, but Ireland is not running this year and Capito is bidding to keep her seat in the House.

Robert Rupp, political science professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College said Republicans may not be eager to run against Rockefeller because of his popularity, his seniority in the Senate and the suspicion that 2008 may be a Democratic year.