A hard-fought victory for legislators resisting new climate change policies ended up in a "wholesale" defeat.

A bill that would have required cost studies for any new climate change policy enacted by the federal government or the governor passed the Legislature by a wide margin, but was scuttled because staff accidentally left the word "wholesale" out of the measure.

The failure to include the word, added by a Senate committee, means the entire measure is invalid.

"[It] died a technical death right at the end of the session so the... bill won't see the light of day," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Thursday during his monthly KUED news conference, when asked if he would veto HB412.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, said he was disappointed with the setback after having worked to get enough support to override a potential veto by the governor.

"The message was there that this was something that the Legislature feels strongly about and now we're unable to see it through because of a technical error," Barrus said.

Barrus sponsored the bill because of concerns that there might be a federal or state cap-and-trade program aimed at limiting carbon emissions and allowing carbon producers to swap carbon credits.

Before the state bound itself to any such climate plan, Barrus' bill would require an economic analysis to determine the cost of compliance and the potential economic harm that might result from compliance.

A Senate committee added a small technical amendment, inserting the word "wholesale" on page 3 of the bill, which was intended to pass on much of the cost for conducting the economic studies to ratepayers in states that buy electricity from Utah, primarily those in California.

Democrats bitterly fought against the bill. Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, called it "dangerous" and warned it would cost taxpayers who would have to pay for the economic studies.

The Senate passed the bill 21-4 and the House concurred in the amendment by a vote of 54-17, but neither voted on the version of the bill that included the word "wholesale."

"Because that one word failed to be put in the bill...that invalidated the bill," said Barrus.

Barrus said that, if the nation remains on the same path he believes it is on now with regards to climate change policy, "it will be imperative that we pass it" next session.