Reeves joins 15 governors in condemning rule requiring businesses to report climate change risks
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Gov. Tate Reeves has joined 15 other governors in opposition of a new rule they say would hurt oil and gas companies.
Tuesday, the governors sent a letter to President Joe Biden and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler protesting a rule that would “compel publicly traded companies to make detailed disclosures about climate-change risks and greenhouse gas emissions.”
“The proposed rule will harm businesses and investors in our states by increasing compliance costs and by larding disclosure statements with uncertain and immaterial information that the federal government – let alone the SEC – is not equipped to judge,” the governors wrote. “We strongly urge you to withdraw the proposed rule and allow the market to continue serving as the appropriate mechanism for judging climate risk, as it does for other types of market risks.”
According to a March 21, 2022, news release from the SEC, the rule, among other things, would require companies to disclose their climate-related risks and risk management processes, how those risks have affected or will affect the registrant’s business model and outlook, and how those risks have a material impact on the registrants’ business and financial statements.
Additionally, companies would have to disclose data on their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions.
As gas prices hit record highs, rather than unleash American energy production, Pres Biden is choosing to weaponize the SEC (and I’m not talking football) to push his Green New Deal climate agenda, directing it to overstep its authority and create rules that punish businesses. pic.twitter.com/372yVzdtR6
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) May 31, 2022
The letter states that the rules would allow the SEC to overstep its authority and inject “subjective political judgments on climate policy into corporate disclosures, in a manner calculated to harm the states that provide for America’s energy security.”
The governors also argue the new rule is part of an ongoing effort to punish traditional energy development and point to the president’s previous rule refusing to issue new oil and gas leases on federal land.
Said Reeves, “As gas prices hit record highs, rather than unleashing American energy production, President Biden is choosing to weaponize the SEC to push his Green New Deal... and create rules that punish businesses.”
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