BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The chairman of Montana’s Crow Indians and state Attorney General Tim Fox want the coal-dependent tribe exempted from the Obama administration’s pending climate plan.
Up to two-thirds of the impoverished tribe’s revenue comes from a 15,000-acre mine that sends Crow coal to power plants in the Midwest.
Fox and Crow Chairman Darrin Old Coyote say the administration’s climate proposal could shutter those power plants, causing “irreversible impacts.”
They want the Crow carved out of an Environmental Protection Agency rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent from 2005 levels. As an alternative, they asked for measures to offset the rule’s impact.
A Friday announcement on the tribe’s concerns is planned.
EPA officials say they met with Crow leaders on July 18 in Denver and have offered further consultations with the tribe.
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