[ by Howard Haykin ]

Four business groups filed a lawsuit against the SEC's new rule requiring oil, mining and gas companies to disclose payments they make to foreign governments.  This is just the upteenth time that a challenge has been directed at the SEC and at a rule mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Reform Act. 

The groups, which inclue the Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute lodge these complaints:

• the SEC failed to properly weigh the rule's costs and benefits. 
• The SE "grossly misinterpreted its statutory mandate" in how it crafted the rule, and in doing so created a regulation that violates companies' First Amendment rights.

According to an SEC spokesman, the Agency is on solid legal footing, although they have not yet finished reading through the complaint.  "We believe our legal interpretation and economic analysis are sound and we look forward to defending the rule that Congress directed us to write," Nester said.

Heavy Weight Challenger.  Gibson Dunne attorney Eugene Scalia, who is the song of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, is the lead counsel in the case for the plaintiffs.  Mr. Scalia has a winning-streak in knocking down other SEC regulations such as the proxy access rule last year.  Late last month, Scalia helped other trade groups win a court battle against the CFTC over another Dodd-Frank rule that would have imposed trading curbs on speculators.

What's Behind the SEC's Resource Extraction Rule.  This has been among the the controlversial among some of the most controversial Dodd-Frank requirements.  The rule aims to combat bribery abroad by U.S. energy companies. The proposal has been champooned y humanitarian organizations Championing b

But industry groups have argued the rule is far too costly and would give rivals sensitive business information.

The SEC adopted the rule in August.

The other two groups to challenge the rule on Wednesday were the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the National Foreign Trade Council. 

For further details, go to:  [Reuters, 10/12/12].