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Group plans lawsuit to force SEC oil disclosure rules
Oxfam America is threatening a lawsuit to force the Securities and Exchange Commission to complete delayed rules that require oil and mining companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments.
Attorneys with EarthRights International, representing Oxfam, sent the SEC an April 16 letter warning that they will file suit if the commission does not finalize the rules within 30 days.
The letter, which was posted on the SEC’s website this week, marks an escalation of human-rights groups' efforts to spur action on the rules that are required under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
“The commission's continuing failure to issue a final rule frustrates the achievement of the robust extractive payments disclosure law intended by Congress,” the letter states, noting the SEC is a year beyond the 270-day deadline for final rules set in the Dodd-Frank law.
The provision is aimed at increasing transparency to help undo the “resource curse,” in which some countries in Africa and elsewhere are plagued by high levels of corruption, conflict and poverty despite their energy and mineral wealth.
Oil
companies say they support disclosure but argue that the rules could create a competitive disadvantage, while
human-rights groups accuse the industry of seeking provisions that would
gut the intent of the law. Click here and here for more on the battle over the rules.
Here’s more from the April 16 letter:
Oxfam America has appreciated the opportunity to participate in the notice and comment process and has done its utmost to work constructively with the commission. However, the commission's unreasonable and unlawful delay in issuing a final rule prejudices Oxfam America, both in Oxfam America's capacity as an investor in numerous U.S. extractives issuers and in its mission to assist communities in resource-rich countries in holding their governments accountable for the management of oil, gas and mining revenues.
