DENVER (AP) — A divisive proposal to commission a new study about the health effects of drilling along Colorado’s Front Range has been defeated.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted against the study Tuesday. The measure had already passed in the House.

The bill would have ordered the state Health Department to study “health and quality of life effects” of drilling in Adams, Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties.

Business groups and mineral-rights owners called the proposal unnecessary and predisposed to decry oil and gas drilling.

Two Democrats joined Republicans Tuesday in shelving the idea. They say the study would still be done if the Health Department chooses.

The sponsor of the study says that Front Range residents feel their concerns about drilling aren’t being heard.