The Utah Senate on Monday refused to support a voluntary greenhouse gas reduction market that one senator said could help municipalities and service districts make money by reducing pollution.

A few Utah entities -- notably Weber County with a methane production plant that saves landfill space and reduces carbon emissions -- already sell carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. By reducing their greenhouse gas output, they can sell their credits to multinational companies that can then show customers and investors that they're acting on behalf of the environment.

Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, proposed SB128 to make it state policy to support these efforts, removing what he said may be confusion about whether cities, counties and districts are allowed to participate. Its defeat in the Senate on a 14-11 vote doesn't outlaw the practice, but Romero said he had hoped to encourage more participation.

"It augments revenue for these entities," Romero said, noting that Weber County has made $102,000. "It decreases landfill space, which is a good thing."

Some senators rejected the measure because they said creating carbon markets is a precursor to a federally mandated cap-and-trade carbon market that they believe will burden energy consumers. Such a market, if approved by Congress, would require companies wanting to exceed a set limit on carbon emissions to pay for credits that other companies sell after polluting less.

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said climate change theory is based on "junk science" that the state shouldn't support. He objected to the bill as an incremental step toward taxation akin to other small steps toward big government.

"That's how we got in this mess of socialism in our lives," he said. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, read from the Chicago Climate Exchange's Web site, saying it's clearly advocating carbon reduction. Among other things, the site says the exchange is meant to "help inform public debate on managing the risk of global climate change."

"This is really cap-and-trade light," Bramble said