U.S. Senator Steve Daines today sent a letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) calling for the withdrawal of its Emergency Response Standard rule which would impose more than $14,000 in unfunded mandates on volunteer fire departments in Montana. Daines emphasized the immediate negative impacts this rule will have on fire and rescue operations in Montana.
Daines wrote in the letter: “Montana’s vast rural and forested landscape provides unique challenges for the small volunteer and career fire departments who serve on the frontlines every day, and especially during wildfire season. These departments, despite facing an ever-growing list of challenges, always answer the call to keep Montanans and their property safe. Unfortunately, the more than $14,000 a year in unfunded mandates imposed as a result of this proposed rule is a burden too heavy to bear for many of them. If this rule is implemented, the critical services these departments provide to their communities may be lost as a result with no one left to fill the gap.”
Read the full letter here.
The Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association support Daines’ effort.