President Joe Biden may say he wants domestic oil producers to invest the money necessary to increase domestic oil production, but when it comes to actual government action, the Biden administration this week again made it more expensive to produce domestic energy.
By a 3-1 vote, with all Democratic members voting “yes” and the sole Republican member voting “no,” the Securities and Exchange Commission advanced a proposed rule Monday compelling public companies to disclose “climate-related risks” to the government.
The goal of the new regulation is to discourage Wall Street investment managers from giving oil and gas companies the investments they need to increase domestic energy production. Once the regulation is fully implemented, publicly traded companies would be forced to provide data on their own carbon emissions, how much energy they consume, and how many carbon emissions are generated by their suppliers and customers.
Environmental, social, and governance investors would then use this data to deprive fossil fuel producers of the capital they need to increase domestic energy production. The new regulation will also force companies to get their emissions data independently certified by a third party. This will be a huge windfall for consulting and accounting firms but will only hurt consumers who will be forced to pay for their high fees.
The proposed rule is open for comment for 60 days before the SEC will then take weeks to make it final. Once they do, they will immediately be sued by states such as West Virginia, where Attorney General Patrick Morrisey promised legal action if a similar rule were made last year. Even if the final rule is thrown out by federal courts, Wall Street investors will have seen what regulators want to accomplish, and many will be discouraged from investing in energy production, which will only hurt consumers — much to the delight of Democrats and their extreme environmentalist allies.
The SEC climate rule is just the latest in a long line of Biden administration actions designed to make domestic fossil fuel production and consumption more expensive. Biden has either outright canceled or delayed leases on federal lands for fossil fuel production, and he has also made production on private property more expensive through aggressive enforcement of environmental and endangered species statutes.
None of these actions by the Biden administration should be surprising. Back when he was desperate for Democratic primary votes, Biden said, “We are going to get rid of fossil fuels.” Biden is just doing what he promised he would do. Voters shocked by the price of gas at the pump should give Biden his due, and the blame, for keeping his promise to cut domestic oil production and make gas more expensive.
