Panel rejects bill to keep Barnwell dump open

A bill to keep the Barnwell County low-level nuclear waste dump open to the rest of the country past July 2008 is effectively dead today.

The House Agriculture and Environmental Affairs Committee voted 16-0 to kill the bill. Two members, including committee chairman Bill Witherspoon, didn't vote.

Witherspoon, who sponsored the measure, said he would have preferred that the site stay open but he called today's vote "democracy in action."

The possible lack of space was the main issue cited by members voting against the bill.

The measure could be resurrected later this year or in 2008, which is the second year of this two-year legislative session.