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Sean D. Reyes
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Comments Added to SEC Rule After SCOTUS-EPA Decision

July 13, 2022

Today, Utah and 23 other states submitted additional comments on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule titled, “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” 

In West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Court ruled that Congress—not the EPA—has the power to decide on such sweeping changes in the nation’s power grid. The EPA is a federal administrative agency, and overstepped its authority, the court ruled. 

The comment letter states, “Based on vague text, the SEC claims the right to reorder how publicly registered companies can operate. Businesses would be compelled to subordinate the shareholders’ interests to those of the regulators and their powerful backers. And after adopting a paternalistic reading of its mandate, the Commission concludes that it can constrain how public companies function simply because influential institutional investors think it best to squeeze out disfavored, carbon-based energy sources. If this sort of regulatory overreach does not constitute a sweeping policy judgment on a major question, then we struggle to see what would.”  

Read the comment letter here.