The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has temporarily suspended its controversial rule requiring private companies to disclose carbon emissions data after it was met with a slew of lawsuits.
The rule, finalized in March, was immediately met with litigation by a group of 25 GOP attorneys general, along with energy companies Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services, and business groups including the Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers and Businesses. Local. Alliance of Energy Producers.
Last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Summary grants Administrative suspension of the ruling while the various lawsuits were consolidated. The groups asked the Eighth Circuit to force the SEC to block its ruling. On Friday, the SEC voluntarily agreed to temporarily suspend its ruling while litigation on the merits continues.
“The mandate is part of Biden's radical green scheme to influence investments based on climate change theories rather than returns,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said on Friday, adding that “the mandate would have cost Missouri companies millions of dollars annually.”
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Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It would have required companies to disclose climate-related risks, including rising weather insurance rates, and issue a plan to adapt to climate agenda recommendations,” Bailey said.
“Our message to Joe Biden: You can't implement this crazy climate mandate without an act of Congress. Constitution 101: Separation of powers,” Bailey said on X.
In a letter to the 8th Circuit, the SEC said the stay order “reaffirms the Commission’s view that the final rules are consistent with applicable law and within the Commission’s longstanding authority.”
“As the Commission explains, particularly in light of the procedural complexities of this litigation, a stay will facilitate this Court’s orderly resolution of petitioners’ challenges and will avoid potential regulatory uncertainty” if registrants become subject to the requirements of the final rule during the pendency of “challenges to its validity,” the letter sent said. Friday.
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Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd led the lawsuit brought by 25 GOP groups against the SEC rule. (Getty Images)
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Baird responded to the SEC's announcement on Friday, calling the rule “Biden's most egregious climate mandate for businesses yet” and calling the SEC's maintenance of the rule a “huge win.”
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Missouri Attorney General Bailey said the SEC's climate disclosure rule would have required companies to disclose climate-related risks and release a plan to adapt to climate agenda recommendations. (AP Photo/Charlie Riddell, File)
Under the leadership of President Gary Genslerappointed by President Biden to the position, the SEC approved the climate disclosure rules on March 6 by a 3-2 vote after nearly two years of heated deliberations.
The SEC said the rules reflect “investor demand for more consistent, comparable and reliable information about the financial impacts of climate-related risks.”
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They will also ensure that companies produce more useful information than investors see today, Gensler said.
Fox News Digital's Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.