Senators Push Back on SEC Proposed Climate Disclosures

Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) led a group of Republican senators pushing back on a proposed rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they say will place unworkable climate disclosure regulations on farmers, ranchers and agriculture producers. The senators led a letter signed by 30 colleagues calling on the SEC to rescind the overreaching proposal, which would require publicly-traded companies to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports. The rule would impose extensive new, complex and burdensome greenhouse gas reporting requirements on all entities within a company's value chain, including farmers and ranchers who fall outside of the SEC's Congressionally-provided authority.

"We have serious concerns regarding the SEC's regulatory overreach, as well as the impact that this proposed rule will have on the agricultural industry," wrote the senators. "This substantial reporting requirement would significantly burden small, family-owned farms with a new, complex and unreasonable compliance requirement, resulting in costly additional compliance expenses, reduced access to new business opportunities, and potential consolidation in the agriculture industry... This proposed rule moves well beyond the SEC's traditional regulatory authority by mandating climate change reporting requirements that will not only regulate publicly traded companies, but will impact every company in the value chain."

Hoeven and Scott are joined in this effort by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), James Lankford (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).