The Biden administration abruptly withdrew a proposal to open public lands to private ownership, a policy that faced opposition from federal and state lawmakers citing potential national security concerns.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets announced in a filing Wednesday that it has withdrawn a proposal to allow a new type of public company. So-called natural asset companies (NACs)will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
NACs are a type of corporation chartered to “protect, restore, and grow natural assets,” according to the nonprofit Intrinsic Exchange Group, which worked with the NYSE to develop the new corporate taxonomy. The Rockefeller Foundation, a left-wing nonprofit and early supporter of the Intrinsic Exchange Group's efforts, said the proposal would help fight climate change.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes previously told FOX News Digital, “Of all the disgusting and extreme policies in the ESG animal kingdom, NAC is one of the most egregious and least legally defensible.” It is one,” he said. “NAC suffers from the same flaws as other ESG investments, but poses additional risks to the American public.”
Biden administration appears to have fabricated paper trail to shut down large chemical plant: court documents
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler speaks at a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on March 29, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“While NAC poses as a novel tool for the public good, it is a barbaric means of achieving activist political agendas,” the attorney general added. “They take land out of public use in a variety of ways, further jeopardizing U.S. energy independence and grid stability, and transferring control, use, and ownership of these lands to private entities, including hostile countries and entities. It is illegally open to the public.”
Earlier this month, Reyes and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. led a coalition of 25 state attorneys general I wrote a comment letter opposing the SEC's proposal. They argued that the NAC could pose a threat to national security and subordinate the interests of millions of Americans “to the objectives of environmental activists and to the policies and missions of the United Nations.”
That comment letter arrived less than a month ago. After the SEC agreed to the postponement. It could expedite rulemaking on this issue and give stakeholders more time to consider proposals. The delay was requested by Republican state finance officials from 22 states, who called for a “reasonable public comment process” rather than a rushed process.
And last week, House Republicans, led by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas), launched an investigation into the SEC's rulemaking process related to NAC.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said the NAC “relies on an unproven model that focuses not on return or value to investors, but rather on restricting the legal and productive use of natural resources.” , the dollar is deployed in amorphous and amorphous categories such as “natural assets'' and “ecosystem services.'' ” (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“The Committee is deeply concerned about the potential impact the NAC could have on the management of federal lands, the effective protection of wildlife habitat, and the responsible development of natural resources.”・Sent a letter to SEC Chairman Gensler and Commissioner Haoxian Zhu. SEC Division of Trading and Markets.
“Most notably, the proposed rules would allow private investors to manage and manage national parks and other public lands, representing an unprecedented power grab and usurpation of federal authority. Yes,” they continued. “This possibility is alarming, but combined with the proposal's arbitrary designations and unclear language, it could have dire consequences for the statutory multi-use mandate of federal lands and the responsible development of America's natural resources. There is a sex.”
Click here to read more on FOX Business
Republicans and experts also warned that activities on federal lands managed by the NAC could be “determined by the whims of environmental activists” rather than Congress or government scientists. And they said NAC could lead to the offshoring of energy production to countries with poor human rights and environmental records, while also opening the door to foreign ownership of public property.
But environmentalists have been lobbying the federal government to open the land for conservation purposes. The Bureau of Land Management is actively working on And that would be consistent with the SEC's NAC proposal.
The NYSE claims that NAC “captures the essential and productive values of nature and provides a store of value based on the critical assets that support our entire economy and enable life on Earth.” Natural assets that can be grouped into NACs include forests, wetlands, coral reefs, as well as working areas such as farms.
