Four Letter Words and Three Letter Agencies

Dear Friend,

When I was growing up, saying the wrong four-letter word would earn you a sampling of some fine bar soap. Nowadays though, it seems to be the three-letter government agencies giving Americans trouble—the EPA, the IRS, and even the SEC (no, not that one).

First, the EPA tried to regulate every square inch of our land with their new attempt to redefine “waters of the United States” to include dry ditches and puddles. Then, the IRS tried to scoop up data on virtually every bank transaction in America and tax famers to death—and then tax them for dying. And now, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to push through a woke new climate rule requiring virtually every business in the country to record and report greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly to the agency.

The rule, entitled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors,” would require every publicly traded company to collect and report information on both direct and indirect emissions. That would mean every mom-and-pop business, every family farm, and virtually anyone who wants to do business with a large company would first be required to record and report all their emissions to that company.

That’s nearly impossible. For farmers, the technology simply isn’t there. There are no burp monitors for cattle. And last I checked there aren’t any Fitbits that record how much CO2 your corn is putting back in the soil. The outlook isn’t any better for small businesses. Big companies can afford to hire entire climate accounting departments. But that’s a tough cost to bear for a local restaurant or auto parts store struggling to get by with record inflation.

This rule will lock mom and pop businesses out of the American economy. It’s another three-letter agency attempting a massive overreach that threatens to drive family operations out of business. You better believe I’m going to keep hollering about this until we get it stopped—and hopefully nobody has to get out the bar of soap.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves