Not only is Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte supporting President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, but she’s also touting the plan in her re-election campaign.
Ayotte’s Senate re-election campaign released a video ad Wednesday with the New Hampshire Republican touting her environmental credentials. Among them is her support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to regulate power plants’ carbon emissions.
“Now I’m supporting the Clean Power Plan, which will help address climate change with clean energy solutions that preserve our environment,” Ayotte said.
She also promotes her work as New Hampshire’s attorney general “keeping New Hampshire safe from out-of-state polluters,” working with Democrats on environmental legislation and co-sponsoring a bipartisan energy efficiency bill.
Ayotte is running for re-election against Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan.
Her choice to support the Clean Power Plan and campaign on that decision disappointed Laura Sheehan, spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy.
Sheehan pointed out that in 2010 Ayotte was against cap and trade legislation that was going through Congress. She said the Clean Power Plan that Ayotte now supports is little more than cap and trade in a different form.
“Her latest ads now tout her support for the president’s unconstitutional regulation,” Sheehan said. “Sen. Ayotte needs to remember that this illegal plan is cap and trade in every way but name only and, just as it was bad for New Hampshire before, it is bad for New Hampshire now.”
Ayotte is one of four moderate GOP senators who formed a new environmental working group, Politico reported Thursday.
The group will work on energy and environment policy beyond simply working against EPA regulations. Other Republican senators in the working group include Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
