Crapo, Risch Block SEC Emissions Requirement that Would Burden Farmers and Ranchers

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch (both R-Idaho) applaud the decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to drop a requirement that companies report supply chain emissions. Crapo and Risch worked diligently to block the requirement from taking effect. The proposed policy would have required publicly traded companies to report their indirect emissions. This requirement would have placed unnecessary burdens on farmers and ranchers as they provide almost every product in the food chain.

“Because Democrats in Congress have been unable to enact radical climate policy through legislation, unelected bureaucrats in the Biden Administration have attempted to implement their preferred agenda through regulation, with little regard for American businesses,” said Crapo. “Our hard-working farm and ranch families have enough to worry about without adding the unnecessary burden of hiring compliance officers to handle SEC reporting. Dropping this requirement is the right call on a misguided proposal.”

“The SEC dropping this emission rule is a significant win for Idaho’s farmers and ranchers,” said Risch. “Climate change activists in the Biden administration continue to put politics over people by forcing excessive emission requirements on industries already weighed down with a deluge of federal regulations. We must remain vigilant and safeguard Idahoans from the progressive climate agenda.”

Crapo has pushed back on the proposed requirement since its introduction.

In April 2022, Crapo joined Republican colleagues on both the Senate Banking and Senate Environment and Public Works Committees in opposing the proposal and calling for its withdrawal.
On June 10, 2022, along with Risch and 30 Senate colleagues, Crapo called on the SEC to rescind this overreaching proposal that would place unworkable climate disclosure regulations on farmers, ranchers and agriculture producers.
Also in June 2022, Crapo joined fellow Senate Banking Committee Republicans in asking the SEC to provide more information related to its 500-page proposed climate disclosure rule, stressing the rule would impose enormous costs on the U.S. economy.
To further reinforce this effort, in July 2022, Risch and Crapo co-sponsored S. 4610, the Food and Energy Security Act, which would require the federal financial and securities regulators to provide an analysis of the real-world impacts that their ESG climate rules would have on American energy and agriculture producers and consumers’ food, electricity, and gas prices.
In March 2023, Crapo co-sponsored S. 391, the Protect Farmers from the SEC Act. This bill would prohibit the SEC from requiring the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions related to agricultural products.