Nation : Senate Rejects Aid to Miners

WASHINGTON —  The Senate today narrowly rejected a $500-million assistance plan for coal miners despite pleas from senators from high-sulfur coal states that tougher pollution controls would drive thousands of miners out of work.

The senators rejected the amendment offered by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) by a vote of 50-49.

The vote was a major victory for Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Me.), and the White House. Both had strongly opposed the assistance package as being too expensive and discriminatory against other workers.

Byrd, saying he was making “an appeal for justice,” had pleaded with senators to support the aid, arguing that coal miners were being singled out under the new clean air legislation, which will require severe cuts in emissions from coal-fired Midwest power plants. Those pollution controls are expected to cause some utilities to switch from coal to other fuels, threatening the jobs of as many as 5,000 miners.