Topeka ? A legislative committee Friday rejected a proposed moratorium on coal-burning power plants.

House Bill 2219 was tabled on a voice vote by the House Energy and Utilities Committee.

The only lawmaker who could be heard opposing the motion to derail the bill was state Rep. Vaughn Flora, D-Topeka, who authored the proposed moratorium.

The bill was filed as state officials consider a $5 billion project by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build three 700-megawatt coal-fired plants in western Kansas.

Flora’s legislation would have imposed a a two-year moratorium on construction of coal-burning plants. During that time, the state would have conducted a study on the health effects of emissions from coal-fired plants.

On Monday during a public hearing on the bill, utility executives said the moratorium, if enacted, would kill the Sunflower project, and lead to rate increases.

But environmentalists said the moratorium would protect Kansans’ health by reducing climate-changing coal-fired emissions and help the economy by increasing development of renewable energy, such as wind.