WASHINGTON - Rep. Barbara Cubin decided not to offer an amendment to comprehensive energy legislation Tuesday that would reauthorize funding for the cleanup of abandoned mines.

Cubin, R-Wyo., said last week that she hoped to use her clout as a member of the House-Senate energy conference to attach the language, which would reauthorize a 1977 law that charges coal producers a per-ton fee to fund abandoned mine cleanup.

But she never offered the amendment during a long Monday evening energy conference meeting that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday.

The House and Senate will now vote on the energy conference report, but members may not make significant changes to it.

A spokesman for Cubin declined to say why she did not offer the language. Members often withdraw proposed language if they do not have the votes for passage.

A disagreement between Wyoming and several Eastern states has been a major obstacle to passage of the legislation.

The two regions are battling over the bill because Wyoming, which now produces more coal than any other state, is the biggest contributor to the federal cleanup fund and gets the most money from it. But veteran mining states in the East like Pennsylvania have declining coal production and the most abandoned mine land.

Republican Rep. John Peterson of Pennsylvania has introduced legislation that would direct more funding to states with the most abandoned land, while Cubin's bill would continue to steer funds to Wyoming - which says it is owed $400 million under the current program.

The two worked to find a compromise before the energy bill conference was finished, but a spokesman for Peterson said Tuesday they did not come to agreement.

Not all Eastern members have opposed Cubin's bill. Some members of Congress from Appalachian states, including Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., are supporting it because of language that would expand the guarantee of health care benefits to thousands more retired miners from the United Mine Workers of America who worked for companies that no longer exist.

Cubin has said she will continue to look for ways to get her legislation considered.

Congress has approved several short-term extensions for the law, which is now set to expire Sept. 30.

NewsTracker

* Last we knew: Rep. Barbara Cubin was working on a compromise to bring Wyoming some of the $400 million it is owed under the federal Abandoned Mine Lands program.

* The latest: Cubin didn't offer a deal as part of the comprehensive energy bill.

* What's next: Cubin has said she will continue to look for ways to get her legislation considered.