Black Liquor Measure Fails In MD House

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/black-liquor-measure-fails-in-md-house-panel/2013/03/29/2fed65a4-98bb-11e2-814b-063623d80a60_story.html A measure before the Maryland legislature to roll back payments to paper companies burning a pulping residue known as “black liquor”failed by one vote in a state House committee Friday. The bill, which passed the Maryland Senate by a bipartisan 33 to 13 vote, fell short of the 12 votes needed in the Economic Matters Committee — even after the bill’s sponsors agreed to guarantee continuing subsidies for Luke Mill, the one Maryland paper mill that was receiving the black-liquor payments. But an energetic lobbying campaign by labor unions and out-of-state paper companies helped defeat the measure, opening further a rift between environmental groups and the United Steelworkers.