A proposal, SB223, to allow cities and counties to get carbon credits for converting landfill waste into charcoal, was killed in the Senate out of fear it would be seen by Gov. Jon Huntsman as an endorsement of global warming and cap-and-trade agreements.

Sen. Scott Jenkins mounted the Legislature's beloved and fearsome slippery slope argument.

I can see [the Governor's Office] saying, "This is all we needed." You see these kinds of stretches made all the time. You give it an inch and they'll run a mile with this. And it scares me to death.

Sen. Chris Buttars complained that cap and trade on carbon emissions is a tax plot by the Obama administration to pay for the stimulus package.

Some people say this is how the government plans to pay for all this money it's giving away. This is a step toward that very thing.

Sen Margie Dayton delighted herself by comparing cap and trade to the medieval religious practice of selling indulgences.

A large church (she seemed incapable of uttering the words "Roman Catholic") was selling indulgence in the dark ages. Even though [this bill] is in innocuous language, it endorses the selling of indulgences — it's an endorsement of cap and trade.

Sen. Scott McCoy, frustrated with the conservatives' reasoning, squeezed a stress ball and uncorked a torrent of sarcasm.

We must be on the slickest hill in the state—we have once again avoided the "slippery slope." . . . This bill has nothing to do with cap and trade and the national debate on climate change.

Maybe someday we'll look back and see that this little bill in Utah held back the tide of this horrible notion of accepting global warming. . . . We are so paranoid and so fearful, we wouldn't even allow a market-based proposal for landfills to get carbon credits. That's just incredible, but it is what it is.