Court Temporarily Halts S.E.C.’s New Climate Rules

Overview:

• A federal court temporarily halted new SEC rules requiring companies to disclose more about climate change risks
• Industry groups and Republican-led states have filed lawsuits against the regulations, calling them unconstitutional
• The SEC initially proposed more stringent rules on emissions reporting along a company’s value chain, but ultimately only required the biggest companies to report direct emissions

Quotes from the article:

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents a wide cross-section of industries, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit this week to stop the rules, calling them unconstitutional. Ten Republican-led states have also sued to stop the rules.
  • The emergency stay granted by Fifth Circuit judges on Friday came in a case brought by two fracking companies, Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services.
• Environmental groups have also challenged the rules, saying the S.E.C. didn’t go far enough in protecting investors.
  • “As climate impacts like wildfires, floods, and drought disrupt every facet of the U.S. economy, the S.E.C. chose to bury its head in the sand instead of requiring companies to show the full climate risks they pose,” said Hana Vizcarra, an attorney at Earthjustice, which along with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups have also sued the S.E.C.

Read more:

• fracking

Read the full post at New York Times.