Newground's Public Comment on Labor Department Rule on ESG Investment

Continuing the Trump administration's assault on ESG investing, in June  the US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new rule which makes it significantly harder for managers of public employee retirement funds to consider environmental, social or governance factors in their investment decisions.  The required public comment period, which ended on July 30, was set at just 30 days – the minimum allowable under federal law – in an apparent effort to fast-track the process so the new rule will take effect before the November election, making it much more difficult for a new administration to undo.

In a public comment strongly criticizing the proposed rule change, Newground Chief Executive Bruce Herbert said:

"The DOL has erred considerably in proposing this Rule. Not only does the Proposed Rule appear to be politically motivated, it is deeply flawed.  So flawed, in fact, that its haphazard construct and naive methodology causes it to verge on being disingenuous.  Starting with the questionable but apparently politically guided proposition that there is a problem, it proceeds to assert a series of intellectually specious suppositions that might be laughable where the Rule’s potential impact not so broadly harmful."

Download the full text of Newground's public comment on the DOL rule change.