A bill to stop Glacier Northwest from expanding its strip mining—the bill would question whether or not Glacier actually had ownership rights to the minerals there—appeared to die in the Senate on Saturday—and with it, the last hope for Maury Island residents who have been fighting for years to halt Glacier’s environmentally destructive work.

(A series of “save Maury Island” bills, including an identical one on mineral ownership rights, had already failed in the House despite the strong leadership of sponsors like Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D-33, Sea-Tac) and Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34, Vashon Island).)

However, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane) pulled a parliamentary maneuver—she switched her vote to the winning side (voting nay) so that she had the right to re-introduce the bill. (Members of the prevailing side are allowed to re-introduce losing bills.)

Well, the bill came back up today and Brown, along with Sen. Ken Jacobsen (D-46, N Seattle), who had voted nay on Saturday, voted yea and the bill passed 25-23-1.

p.s. I’d like to link the relevant bill and my previous Slog coverage of Rep. Nelson’s efforts on this issue, but wifi is spotty in Olympia today, so there you have it. And props to Sen. Brown.