FRANKFORT — Legislation to regulate the placement of electric generating plants came under fire from two sides Monday.

        An industry lobbyist said it would let the Natural Resources Cabinet make up pollution standards as it goes along. An environmentalist said it irrationally favored plants that would burn coal.

        There was no consensus on a bill in a meeting of the House Local Government Committee. The committee planned to meet again Tuesday, at which point the General Assembly will have three more days for normal bill-passing.

        One proponent said he feared the legislative session would end with nothing being passed.

        “More than anything, I want a bill,” said Rep. Jon Draud, R-Crestview Hills, who sponsored a House version after a personal brush with the issue. “I don't anyone to try to build a power plant next to my mother's nursing home again.”

        There are competing versions of the legislation:

        • A Senate-passed bill that pertains only to “merchant” plants, which sell power on the open market. A newly created board would have to approve sites for such plants. Utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission would be exempted, as would “co-generators” that produce electricity in the course of other manufacturing.

        • A substitute bill, proposed by Mr. Draud, without exemptions. It would require the Natural Resources Cabinet to assess environmental risks of proposed plants.

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