California Lawmaker Vows To Stop Utah Coal Shipment Plan From Reaching Oakland Port

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -  A proposal to invest $51 million in taxpayer funds for a coal shipping port in California is speeding through Utah's Legislature.

A Senate committee advanced the measure Wednesday afternoon, less than 48 hours after the measure was unveiled.

It must still win approval from Utah's Senate and House of Representatives in the six working days left in the legislative session.

The proposal calls for using sales tax revenue to acquire a deep-water port near Oakland, California, and use it to export Utah coal overseas.

Layton Republican Sen. Stuart Adams sponsors the measure and says it would help rural, energy-producing parts of the state with high unemployment rates.

Several environmental groups oppose the measure, saying it's a misuse of public money and an attempt to prop up a struggling coal industry.

California Sen. Loni Hancock, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday evening that she's profoundly disappointed in her Utah counterparts who approved the plan.

Hancock says Californians fighting pollution will do everything they can to stop the coal shipment project.