Al Gore for chairman of the SEC (not the Southeastern Conference)

As if the Securities Exchange Commission didn't have its hands full tracking down financial scammers, Chairwoman Mary Schapiro's crew is getting into global warming.

In a recent vote, the SEC imposed climate-change disclosure requirements on publicly traded companies.

That move heated up Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, who joined 20 of his House colleagues in condemning the move.

The SECs primary focus should be doing a better job of protecting investors from fraud and abuse, Posey said. Weve seen a number of very expensive, high-profile financial scandals in recent years that the SEC failed to detect. As of yet, there has still been no accountability at the SEC for these colossal failures.

With the ghost of Bernie Madoff lingering, Posey, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, continued:

I am also concerned that the SEC is implementing this mandate without the consideration of Congress or through the normal rule-making process."

Last October, Posey introduced the SEC Delinquent Judgment Act, legislation to refocus the agency on uncovering and hunting down those who commit securities fraud.

While the SEC has authority to impose environmental risk requirements on companies, there are no federal laws explicitly addressing climate change and its uncertain how a company would measure its own climate change impact when much of the science is increasingly uncertain, Posey's office stated.