Jan. 9, 2001--
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Utah's new Senate minority leader, a paid consultant for a coal company, wants to extend a tax break for locally mined coal sold overseas.
Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, is sponsoring a bill that would add five years to the life of a state tax credit for coal sold overseas.
The $1-per-ton credit is scheduled to expire next year.
Doug Macdonald, chief economist of the Utah State Tax Commission, said the tax break adds up to $1.5 million annually. That money would otherwise go toward public education.
The discount could extend to RAG Coal International, a German-based mining firm that employs Dmitrich as a consultant.
RAG owns the Willow Creek Coal Mine, which was shut down after a fire last August that killed two miners.
Dmitrich says he works for RAG as a "very part-time" consultant, and the small salary, which is "not even enough to cover my (golf) green fees." He said the company did not motivate him to sponsor the extension.
"(The extension) helps the whole coal mining industry in general," said Dmitrich. He said he would not benefit financially from the bill's passage.
But Dmitrich's district relies extensively on coal mining for its economic health. The closure of the Willow Creek Mine forced the company to lay off 250 miners and has hurt the economy of the area.
"I think I represent a big constituency of coal miners in the coal industry," said Dmitrich, who worked as a coal miner for 20 years until his father was killed in a different mine fire.
Utah expects to mine 26.9 million tons of coal in the coming year, Macdonald said.
Under Utah's conflict of interest laws, a legislator only needs to declare before a vote that he has a potential conflict of interest. Dmitrich said he would do that with his bill.
That means ranchers have been able to develop grazing laws, insurance representatives have written insurance statutes and real estate agents have sponsored real estate measures.
Cassie Dippo of Utah Common Cause said she has not seen the text of Dmitrich's bill and was reluctant to comment.
"There appears to be some conflict of interest. I don't want to go further than saying that," she said.
Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, defended the bill.
Allen said the coal industry has been left out of economic development initiatives and tax credits since 1982.
"I don't think it's so much a conflict of interest," said Allen. "He just knew about it when the rest of us didn't."
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
