Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares today announced a victory against the Biden Administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) mandate that forces businesses to track and report greenhouse gas emissions.
Virginia joined a 25-state coalition of Republican attorneys general in securing a temporary, nationwide block on President Biden’s extreme climate mandate while the lawsuit continues.
The mandate is part of President Biden’s government-wide green energy overhaul and an attempt to influence investments based on climate change theories instead of returns, according to the coalition. The mandate will require businesses to disclose climate-related risks, including higher insurance rates from weather disasters, and release a plan to adapt to climate agenda recommendations. The plan is estimated to cost businesses billions of dollars every year.
“President Biden continues to try to push his most extreme, harmful, and expensive policies without congressional approval – because he knows they’ll fail in Congress. He is actively avoiding the voice of the American people on mandates that will directly impact them,” Miyares said. “As Attorney General, I’ll protect Virginians from federal overreach and harmful, illegal mandates.”
In the ongoing legal challenge, the states make the case that the SEC cannot implement the climate mandate without an act of Congress. The mandate, according to the coalition, is just the most recent example of President Joe Biden going too far to force his green energy agenda.
Virginia joined the Iowa-led lawsuit, along with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.