May. 09, 2022
Dear Commissioner Gary Gensler,
As an attorney with clients who are farm families, I am writing to submit comments to the SEC’s proposed rule on the Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors ("ESCRDI").
Proposed ESCRDI is an exercise in EXTREME OVERREACH by the SEC. THERE IS NO STATUTORY AUTHORITY CONCERNING THE SUBJECT MATTER OF PROPOSED ESCRDI. There is no public necessity for ESCRDI.
Farmer and rancher family clients are already heavily regulated by multiple agencies at the local, state and the federal level.
Moreover, proposed ESCRDI's focus on the value chain for climate-related risks and impacts under Scope 3 exacts an unlimited, exorbitant burden on the backs of farmers and ranchers. ESCRDI compliance wholly, disproportionately, burdens American farmers-ranchers in the quixotic quest of unknown and in some instances unknowable costs. Congress and/or the courts must rein in such flagrant regulatory abuses, if ESCRDI is not withdrawn. And who picks up the tab for their lawyers? ESCRDI cannot stand.
Elected representatives of farmers would not dream - would not dare - to impose such draconian burdens on our farmers and ranchers. The SEC is a creature of and accountable to Congress, not an unfettered autocracy. Within the constraints of our Constitution, elected representatives, not unelected regulators, after hearings, votes, approval of both houses, president signs – that is the constitutionally required process for enactment of laws regarding the boundless subjects of ESCRDI. (ESCRDI spans more than 500 pages.) Fundamentally, farmers and ranchers are not '33 Act-'34 Act companies. ESCRDI has NO RATIONAL RELATIONSHIP TO THE MISSION OF THE SEC. The SEC has lost its way.
Finally, compliance with ESCRDI risks disclosure of private confidential farmer information, yet ANOTHER STATUTORY – CONSTITUTIONAL DEFECT. You are urged to IMMEDIATELY WITHDRAW ESCRDI.
Regards,
Jim Porter
514 Wilcox St
Castle Rock, CO 80104