Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

The SEC Climate Fight Enters a New Round

Now it’s in the courts.

Emily Pontecorvo •
04/05/2024
The SEC building.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The legal battle over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rule on climate-related disclosure has begun. On Thursday, the Commission issued a pause on the rule, which sets standards for publicly-owned companies to report their exposure to climate-related risks like extreme weather or future regulations in their annual filings.

The rule finalized in early March was significantly weaker than what the Commission had originally proposed in 2022. Rather than make disclosure mandatory, the regulations say that companies only have to report certain types of information, such as their greenhouse gas emissions, if they deem the information “material.” Despite this, the decision invited swift backlash from all corners, including from the energy industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Republican states, and environmental groups.

Between March 6, the day the rules were finalized, and March 14, at least nine petitions were filed in multiple courts of appeals seeking review of the final rules. Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services, two oilfield service companies, filed a motion seeking a stay pending judicial review. The petitions were later consolidated for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where the Chamber of Commerce and several other business groups also filed a motion seeking a stay. Now, the Commission has decided to accede to the request and pause the rules as the court reviews the petitions.

“In issuing a stay, the Commission is not departing from its view that the Final Rules are consistent with applicable law,” the order said. “Thus, the Commission will continue vigorously defending the Final Rules’ validity in court.”

The rules were not set to go into effect until 2026, so it remains to be seen whether or by how much the legal challenges will delay implementation. Margaret Farrell, the chair of the securities law group at the firm Hinckley Allen told the Wall Street Journal that she didn’t think the legal challenges would “fundamentally change” the direction things are heading in. “There is an obligation, which the SEC underscored a few years back, to consider the impact of climate change and climate events on the business,” she said, “regardless of the new rule.”

Blue
Emily Pontecorvo profile image

Emily Pontecorvo

Emily is a founding staff writer at Heatmap. Previously she was a staff writer at the nonprofit climate journalism outlet Grist, where she covered all aspects of decarbonization, from clean energy to electrified buildings to carbon dioxide removal.

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
Continue with Google
or
Please enter an email address
Continue
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Or try a month of unlimited access to Heatmap for free
Sparks

The Country’s Largest Power Markets Are Getting More Gas

Three companies are joining forces to add at least a gigawatt of new generation by 2029. The question is whether they can actually do it.

Matthew Zeitlin •
02/26/2025
Natural gas pipelines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Two of the biggest electricity markets in the country — the 13-state PJM Interconnection, which spans the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest, and ERCOT, which covers nearly all of Texas — want more natural gas. Both are projecting immense increases in electricity demand thanks to data centers and electrification. And both have had bouts of market weirdness and dysfunction, with ERCOT experiencing spiky prices and even blackouts during extreme weather and PJM making enormous payouts largely to gas and coal operators to lock in their “capacity,” i.e. their ability to provide power when most needed.

Now a trio of companies, including the independent power producer NRG, the turbine manufacturer GE Vernova, and a subsidiary of the construction firm Kiewit Corporation, are teaming up with a plan to bring gas-powered plants to PJM and ERCOT, the companies announced today.

The three companies said that the new joint venture “will work to advance four projects totaling over 5 gigawatts” of natural gas combined cycle plants to the two power markets, with over a gigawatt coming by 2029. The companies said that they could eventually build 10 to 15 gigawatts “and expand to other areas across the U.S.”

So far, PJM and Texas’ call for new gas has been more widely heard than answered. The power producer Calpine said last year that it would look into developing more gas in PJM, but actual investment announcements have been scarce, although at least one gas plant scheduled to close has said it would stay open.

So far, across the country, planned new additions to the grid are still overwhelmingly solar and battery storage, according to the Energy Information Administration, whose data shows some 63 gigawatts of planned capacity scheduled to be added this year, with more than half being solar and over 80% being storage.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Sparks

An Emergency Trump-Coded Appeal to Save the Hydrogen Tax Credit

Featuring China, fossil fuels, and data centers.

Emily Pontecorvo •
02/18/2025
The Capitol.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As Republicans in Congress go hunting for ways to slash spending to carry out President Trump’s agenda, more than 100 energy businesses, trade groups, and advocacy organizations sent a letter to key House and Senate leaders on Tuesday requesting that one particular line item be spared: the hydrogen tax credit.

The tax credit “will serve as a catalyst to propel the United States to global energy dominance,” the letter argues, “while advancing American competitiveness in energy technologies that our adversaries are actively pursuing.” The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association organized the letter, which features signatures from the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Clean Energy Buyers Association, and numerous hydrogen, industrial gas, and chemical companies, among many others. Three out of the seven regional clean hydrogen hubs — the Mid-Atlantic, Heartland, and Pacific Northwest hubs — are also listed.

Keep reading...Show less
Red
Sparks

Why Your Car Insurance Bill Is Making Renewables More Expensive

Core inflation is up, meaning that interest rates are unlikely to go down anytime soon.

Matthew Zeitlin •
02/12/2025
Wind turbines being built.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Fed on Wednesday issued a report showing substantial increases in the price of eggs, used cars, and auto insurance — data that could spell bad news for the renewables economy.

Though some of those factors had already been widely reported on, the overall rise in prices exceeded analysts’ expectations. With overall inflation still elevated — reaching an annual rate of 3%, while “core” inflation, stripping out food and energy, rose to 3.3%, after an unexpectedly sharp 0.4% jump in January alone — any prospect of substantial interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve has dwindled even further.

Keep reading...Show less