A Senate committee on Friday turned down a proposal that would have provided oversight to operations at Dugway Proving Ground, a top-secret military installation in Tooele County that tests defenses against biological and chemical warfare.

On Friday, Republicans defeated the bill that would have resurrected the Utah Federal Research Committee on a 3-2 vote in the Senate's Government Operations Committee.

Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, sponsored the bill to re-establish the oversight committee, which former Gov. Mike Leavitt disbanded in the late 1990s.

But Davis is far from giving up.

"I've talked to the governor's office and others and next week, I'll try to get the committee to reconsider," said Davis. "We must have some oversight."

Steve Erickson, a longtime citizen advocate who monitors Dugway, said he was disappointed that the bill did not make it out of the committee.

Last year, Erickson asked military and state agencies for information on five of 11 proposals to expand testing and training that had been published in several newspaper legal notices under so-called findings of no significant impact.

The Army provided information on only two of the five plans, despite calls for public comment in the legal notices.

Erickson said the three state agencies he queried had little knowledge of the military's plans for expansion.