A recent article by Lesley Clark and Niina Farah of E&E News discusses the implications of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA on three major climate rules. In West Virginia , the Court considered the legality of the Clean Power Plan—an Obama era regulation that pointed to EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to impose emission limits…
Rupert Darwall collected some of the most prominent comments made on the SEC’s proposed climate-related risk disclosures rule, highlighting many of the arguments in support of and opposition to the proposed rule. Darwall explains: Much comment on the controversial climate disclosure rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has centered on whether the SEC has the necessary legal…
Boyden Gray & Associates filed comments on the SEC’s proposed rule on “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” 87 Fed. Reg. at 21,334, arguing that the proposed rule would be illegal and unconstitutional. The proposed rule, a part of President Biden’s broader climate and ESG agenda, would significantly expand the scope of required disclosures for many publicly…
Pamela King at E&E News writes on the major questions doctrine in a recent article, Inside a legal doctrine that could derail Biden climate regs. She explains, The doctrine—which says Congress must speak clearly if it wishes to allow a federal agency to address matters of “vast economic and political significance”—has been invoked by Republican state attorneys general and conservative…
Boyden Gray & Associates partner Jonathan Berry, formerly head of rulemaking at the United States Department of Labor, filed a letter commenting on the DOL’s proposed Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulation on December 13, 2021. In the letter, Berry decries the rule’s privileging of so-called “Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)” factors as unlawful and undermining the retirement security of…