Oz park extension sent to Senate
The House voted 70-51 Tuesday to approve a bill to extend the deadline for developers to break ground on the proposed $861 million Wonderful World of Oz theme park in Johnson County.
The bill now goes to the Senate. It extends the life of a state bonding package that would allow the project to be developed and the bonds to be repaid through taxes collected at the theme park and resort.
The one-year extension gives developers until July 1, 2002, to break ground on the park.
The extension, requested by Johnson County commissioners, would give the county time to conduct its own feasibility study on the park.
House members amended the bill to require the developers to repay Wyandotte County officials $550,000 that the county spent on the project when land there was under consideration in the 1990s.
State environmentalists reject EPA settlement
Environmentalists who have sued the state of Kansas said Tuesday that they will advise their clients to reject a settlement offer from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In a meeting at EPA's regional headquarters in Kansas City, EPA officials offered a settlement to attorneys from the Sierra Club and Kansas Natural Resource Council.
Charles Benjamin of Lawrence, representing the Sierra Club, declined to reveal details of the settlement, saying he first wanted to brief national Sierra Club officials.
But, he said, as far as he was concerned the settlement was unacceptable.
The two groups have sued EPA, saying it was not enforcing the federal Clean Water Act. The groups won the lawsuit. That prompted EPA to propose stricter water guidelines last summer. A second suit by the groups, which is pending, would force EPA to adopt the proposed guidelines.
Last call in House for keg registration
A proposal to require liquor stores to track who buys beer kegs resurfaced and sank Tuesday in the Senate.
The Senate passed the measure two weeks ago, but a House committee tabled it last week most likely preventing it from passing this year.
Sen. Jim Barnett, the legislation's main sponsor, tried unsuccessfully to revive the issue during debate of a House bill that would make it illegal to administer the ingredients of the drug gamma hydroxybutyric acid without a prescription.
His amendment would have required retailers to record a keg purchaser's name and address before giving them a tagged keg, making it easier for police to track a keg back to its buyer and to apprehend adults who provide alcohol to minors.
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