Tester Delivers Win For Montana Farmers, Ranchers
Following continued pressure by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced last week that they will completely eliminate their proposed Scope 3 requirements in their ‘climate disclosure rule’ that would have created burdensome federal reporting requirements for family farmers and ranchers.
Tester repeatedly made it clear to SEC Chair Gary Gensler that these burdensome reporting requirements would not work for Montana and successfully ensured they were stripped from the SEC’s final rule.
“Montanans sent me to the Senate to stand up for rural America and to push back against burdensome regulations from Washington, D.C., that don’t work for our state,” said Tester. “I know first-hand that there is more than enough work to go around on a family farm like mine, from fixing up my combine to dealing with a lack of moisture, so the last thing family farmers need is for big corporations or the federal government to force them to fill out piles of unnecessary paperwork. I’m proud to have declared this requirement dead on arrival and to have fought every step of the way to stop it in its tracks so that our farmers can continue to focus on what’s important: feeding the world.”
“We applaud Sen. Tester’s persistence and tenacity in working with the SEC to make sure the Climate Reporting Rule was finalized in a way that protects Montana’s farmers and ranchers from unnecessary and useless paperwork,” said Cyndi Johnson, a small grains farmer from Conrad and president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. “He asked all the right questions of the SEC, persisted with pointed letters and made the case for why an entity with oversight of massive, publicly traded companies should not meddle in the business of family farms and ranches.”
“Over the past two years, farm families voiced their concerns on the consequences of an overreaching Scope 3 requirement,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “Sen. Tester listened and stepped up to ensure the climate disclosure rule protected America’s small farmers and ranchers, who could have been squeezed out of the food supply chain. We thank him for his leadership to remove Scope 3 so farmers can continue to focus on keeping America’s pantries stocked.”
