The old jokes about selling swampland in Florida or lots in the Arizona desert to city suckers has come back to life, only this time it is Leftwing Wall Street tycoons and enemy sovereign wealth funds, not fast-talking country boys, who are looking to fleece the suckers.
According to reporting by Spike Jordan for Tri-State Livestock News a proposed rule by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission would allow a new type of company with the rights to manage public and private lands to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of these companies could then potentially be purchased and controlled by anti-agriculture interests or foreign adversaries.
“To address the large and complex challenges of climate change and the transition to a more sustainable economy, NYSE and Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) are pioneering a new class of listed company based on nature and the benefits that nature provides (termed ecosystem services).” the New York Stock Exchange said on its website, announcing Natural Asset Companies (NAC).
“NACs will capture the intrinsic and productive value of nature and provide a store of value based on the vital assets that underpin our entire economy and make life on earth possible,” NYSE wrote.
As publicly tradable securities, NACs hold rights and management of forests, wetlands, and coral reefs, as well as farm and rangelands. Instead of being focused on traditional accounting practices and returning profits to the shareholder, NACs would instead be rated based on “natural processes,” and prioritizing conservation and “sustainable practices.”
Mr. Jordan noted that the SEC quietly introduced the rule in September 2023, with an unusually short 21-day public comment period. However, on Dec. 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a notice in the Federal Register reopening comments on the NAC proposed rule. The new comment deadline is January 18. Comments can be submitted at to the SEC website at https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/sr-nyse-2023-09
We join western state elected officials and Wall Street watchdogs in calling BS on this proposal.
As Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oakes explained in a December 11, 2023 column, this far-reaching rule change would dramatically alter the ownership and use of public and private land in the United States.
Mr. Oakes explained that NACs exist to buy the ecosystem rights to private, federal, and state lands, and to permanently lock them away from productive economic activity. A NAC’s purpose isn’t profit but rather, “ecological services.”
Forests, farmland, parks, and land rich in resources are the intended targets for NACs. These new companies would use investor funds to acquire the controlling rights to any enrolled lands, and then forever prevent resource extraction, farming, and other critical economic activity. In other words, this rule would empower activists to undermine the market’s ability to allocate capital and resources for the benefit of local communities, and for society as a whole.
The NAC mission to reduce human impact on as much land as possible comes at a significant societal and economic cost. NACs are intended to attract not just impact investors seeking to influence social behavior, but also adversarial countries like China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia that can use their massive sovereign wealth funds to take American lands out of useful production. What better way to squeeze America than permanently locking up natural resources without a fight?
For more on the dangers of Natural Asset Companies see our friend Kevin Freeman’s Economic War Room presentation through this link.
Here's just one example of the disastrous national security implications of potential NAC “ownership” of the ecosystem rights of the McDermitt Caldera.
Geologists have discovered a massive lithium deposit within the McDermitt Caldera located on Bureau of Land Management land along the Nevada-Oregon border. The discovery has the prospect of revolutionizing the global lithium supply chain. The deposit is estimated to contain 20 to 40 million metric tons of lithium, with unprecedented quality that surpasses any previous find.
The ownership and extraction rights are already complicated by the Communist Chinese holding a major share in the company planning to get a mine into production as early as 2026. Lithium Nevada will work approximately 18,000 acres of federal Bureau of Land Management land about 26 miles from the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Reservation.
However, the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone tribal council voted unanimously to withdraw the tribe from its agreement with Lithium Nevada, based on a petition from tribal members.
Suppose a new Far Left Democrat administration sold the ecosystem rights to the McDermitt Caldera to a NAC to effectively prohibiting mining of the lithium deposit, or the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone tribal council formed a NAC to do the same thing.
Or worse yet, what if the Communist Chinese, recognizing the threat to their existing near-monopoly on lithium-based electric vehicle batteries decided it was good business to sell their existing mining rights in the McDermitt Caldera to a new NAC, thereby effectively taking out the competition from American domestic suppliers counting on using McDermitt Caldera-produced lithium in domestic American-produced batteries?
Natural Asset Companies were conceived to monetize political outcomes, not make a profit by producing a product or service for which there is a consumer demand. We have millions of acres of National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, National Seashores, Scenic Rivers, and other protected areas. Wall Street scammers and enemy sovereign wealth funds should not be given carte blanche to raise money from investors to take more American land out of useful production, or to enrich political cronies who could be granted the right to manage federally owned ecosystems.
The Securities and Exchange Commission comment deadline is January 18. Comments can be submitted at to the SEC website at https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/sr-nyse-2023-09 click the link and tell the SEC Natural Asset Companies should not be allowed to become exchange tradable securities.
Sovereign wealth funds
U.S. Securities Exchange Commission
Manage public and private lands
shares
Wall Street
climate change
sustainable development
Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG)
Natural Asset Companies
sustainable assets
range land
wetlands
Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oakes
ecosystem rights
farm land
human impact
China
natural resources
McDermitt Caldera
Lithium
Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Reservation
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