A bill requiring a state study of oil trains, which was introduced so late in the legislative session it didn't get a hearing, will get an airing next month in Spokane.

The Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee will use the Spokane City Council chambers at 10:30 a.m. June 17 for a hearing on SB 6582, which would require the Department of Ecology to conduct a study of the safety of transporting crude oil by rail and by barge. Companies receiving the oil would be required tell the department how much they shipped each month, where it came from and how it got there. They would also pay the state's one-cent per barrel tax on crude oil, which would go into the special oil spill response fund.

The bill is sponsored by Republicans Mike Baumgartner of Spokane and Doug Ericksen of Ferndale, who is the committee chairman.

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