The bill "would have stopped coal operators from burying creeks and streams with mine waste," reports John Stamper of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee voted 13-12 for House Bill 526, but 14 votes were needed to get it out of the committee. Three Republicans abstained, and a Democrat, Rep. Mike Denham of Maysville, left the meeting before the vote and returned shortly afterward, Stamper reports. (UPDATE, March 13: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth said in a press release that Republican Reps. Scott Brinkman and Bob DeWeese of Louisville reneged on promises to vote for the bill.)
"The coal industry had opposed the measure, saying it would bring an end to coal mining in Eastern Kentucky," Stamper writes. Supporters "dismissed those claims as hyperbole and said the bill's main effects would be to increase water quality, reduce flooding and protect aquatic habitat." They said they would keep fighting for the bill. "We'll holler bigger and louder," KFTC's Truman Hurt told the Herald-Leader.
The issue was heard by the committee that handles taxes and the state budget because it could not be heard in the Natural Resources and Environment Committee, which is dominated by coalfield legislators. Last winter, budget committee chairman Harry Moberly, from Richmond in the Bluegrass Region, took his panel on a tour of mountaintop-removal sites. "We'll have future discussions about this bill and anything else about the environment that is not properly addressed," he told Stamper. (Read more)
Video of last week's hearing is available online. For the March 4 meeting, with Kentucky Resources Council Director Tom FitzGerald and two other environmental experts, click here. For the March 5 meeting, which included testimony from the coal industry and KFTC, click here.
1 comment:
Rep mike denham's sudden trip (to the bathroom?) when the crucial vote was taking place is a tactic as old as legislative forums. someone should have followed him to see which bagman-lobbyist was waiting for denham with the "thank you."
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