Daines Statement Following Clean Power Plan Oral Arguments

U.S. SENATE —U.S. Senator Steve Daines today issued the following statement after the conclusion of oral arguments in West Virginia v. EPA before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

“Under President Obama’s Unaffordable Power Plan, Montanans who can afford it the least are paying the steepest price,” Daines stated. “I’m thankful for our Attorney General Tim Fox who is working tirelessly to ensure that this rule is stopped to protect coal jobs and the hardworking families coal supports.”                

Earlier tonight, Daines took part in a bipartisan press conference joined by U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) along with Attorneys General suing to stop President Obama’s overreach. Thirty-nine lawsuits seeking review of the final rule have been consolidated in the D.C. Circuit.  The final rule was stayed by the Supreme Court on Feb. 9. 

Daines has long fought to protect Montana jobs and access to low-cost energy from the Obama administration’s overreach. Daines signed an amicus brief in support of petitions filed by 27 states, including Montana, seeking to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s so-called Clean Power Plan. An amicus brief, or “friend of the court” brief, can be filed in order to address concerns and advise the Court on a matter of law that directly affects the case at hand.  

Daines is an original cosponsor of two bipartisan resolutions disapproving of the EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan regulations on new and existing power sources.  

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