The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stayed new climate-related disclosure requirements pending judicial review, the agency said on Thursday, after criticism from across the political spectrum. The SEC’s first-of-its-kind regulation on how companies share certain climate-related risks with investors had attracted multiple lawsuits. The agency said it has exercised its discretion to stay the final rules pending a review in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Other jurisdictions, including the European Union and California, are preparing to implement their own disclosure requirements. (California's rules have also been challenged in court, as discussed earlier this week in Allen Matkins’ California Corporate & Securities Law Blog.)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Friday issued tough new emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses, with the aim of cutting air pollution, addressing climate change, and boosting economic growth. California enacted similar rules last year. California’s rules will supersede the federal regulations for large truck fleets operating within the state, whether they are registered in California or not. Unlike California’s rules, which mandate sales of new electric battery and fuel cell trucks in increasing percentages through 2042, the federal rules allow more flexibility in fuels, as long as air emissions standards are met.
A federal district judge on March 29 approved an agreement between 3M and public water utilities to settle thousands of lawsuits involving contamination of drinking water with certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Under the class settlement, 3M expects to pay about $10.3 billion over 13 years to more than 11,000 public water systems. The settlement class includes every public water utility in the U.S. that, as of June 22, 2023, had detected PFAS in at least one water source. The class also includes a second group of utilities that have not yet detected PFAS in their water supply but are required to monitor for the chemicals.
California Assemblymember Laura Friedman announced a new bill this Wednesday to ban the weed killer paraquat, which has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, as well as childhood leukemia and other health risks especially for Californians in agricultural communities. Assembly Bill 1963 would ban the use of paraquat dichloride — a chemical that is among the most widely used commercial herbicides in the U.S. Paraquat has been banned in the EU and in at least 60 countries. If approved and signed into law, the bill would ban all uses of paraquat dichloride starting in January 2026.
A federal court on Wednesday struck down a Biden administration rule requiring states and cities to set climate targets for transportation. Judge James Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed with the Republican-led states that sued over the rule that the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) did not have the authority to require them to set the targets for decreasing planet-warming emissions in evaluating highway “performance” and to report on their progress. The rule invalidated by the court also had set up a national framework for measuring and reporting transportation-related emissions. The FHA is evaluating the ruling to determine next steps. It also confirmed its commitment to combat climate change.
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday unveiled a “roadmap to resilience” for the state’s fickle water supply and to confirm good news from sensors scattered throughout the Sierra: California’s end-of-season snowpack haul is significantly above normal. The crucial April reading clocked in at 110% of normal, state water officials said Tuesday — a harbinger of a reliable water supply during the upcoming dry summer months. Newsom’s plan puts a fresh focus on various new water sources, from major infrastructure projects such as the controversial Delta tunnels project to send water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Southern California, and the Sites Reservoir, a $4.5 billion project in Colusa County that would become the largest new reservoir anywhere in California in the past 50 years.
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