More on this....letter from the Senate to the SEC
We are also alarmed by the SEC’s allowance under the proposed rule of foreign investment in these uniquely U.S. assets. At a time in which we are actively working to deter our adversaries, we should not be open our federal lands up to investment from the same adversaries. This rule-making comes as other federal agencies work to bolster permanent federal conservation acres. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is creating conservation areas surrounding existing National Wildlife Refuges. These areas can be used to create NACs. The Intrinsic Exchange Group Inc. (IEG) calls these “Conservation Areas”
and describes them to include protected lands, private lands with easements, and sustainable communities. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) also issued a proposed rule that prioritizes conservation of the federal lands over the multiple uses authorized by Congress under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). We have concerns about the intentions of prioritizing conservation over the multiple-use approach on our federal lands in tandem with financial incentives for corporate management.
https://www.risch.senate.gov/public...tter-to-sec-natural-asset-companies-final.pdf
https://americanstewards.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/10-23-SEC-NA-Backgrounder.pdf
Their objective is not the conservation of the land. They seek total political and financial control of the world’s natural resources particularly in the United States. Immediate Congressional Oversight of the SEC proposed rule is warranted.
KEY POINTS:
1. Proposed Rule Authorizes Federal Lands, Including National Parks, to be Enrolled into NACs.
2. Proposed Rule Gives “Management Authority” to the NAC.
3. The Biden Administration is Preparing to Enroll the Federal Lands into NACs.
4.
Proposed Rule Invites Foreign Interests to Invest in an NAC.
5
. Land Trusts can Enroll Conservation Easements without Landowner’s Permission.
6. Exclusive Rights to Natural Processes will be Monetized and Assigned to NACs.
7.
Protection of the Resources is Prioritized over Human Flourishing (AKA FOOD PRODUCTION).
“NACs will be corporations that hold the rights to the ecological performance (i.e., the value of natural assets and production of ecosystem services) produced by natural or working areas,
such as national reserves or large-scale farmlands, and have the authority to manage the areas for conservation, restoration, or sustainable management. These rights can be licensed like other rights, including ‘‘run with the land’’ rights (such as mineral rights, water rights, or air rights), and NACs are expected to license these rights from sovereign nations or private landowners.” (Fed. Reg. Vol. 88, No. 191, 10/4/2023, page 68812)
The SEC Proposed Rule defines “Ecological Performance Rights” as follows: “The rights to the value of natural assets and the production or ecosystem services in a designated area, including the authority to manage the area. These rights are granted to a NAC, from a natural asset owner, as provided through a license agreement.” (Fed. Reg. Vol. 88, No. 191, 10/4/2023, page 68813)
This management authority also extends to the private lands, conservation easements, and State lands. It is extended to all the assets controlled by the NAC.
The Biden Administration released the “National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental Economic Decisions” in January of 2023. They are creating “Natural Capital Accounts (NACs)” to track the intrinsic values of nature and place these alongside traditional assets on the federal balance sheet. The report describes the purpose as follows: “It creates a U.S. system to account for natural assets—from the minerals that power our tech economy and are driving the electric-vehicle revolution, to the ocean and rivers that support our fishing industry, to the forests that clean our air—and quantify the immense value this natural capital provides. This National Strategy will help us understand and consistently track changes in the condition and economic value of land, water, air, and other natural assets. It will also help the federal government fulfill its responsibility to the American people to provide a fuller understanding of our economy. And it will provide data to guide the federal government and the economy through the transition we need for sustainable growth and development, a stable climate, and a healthy planet.” (Report Introduction)
Along with adopting the UN accounting system, the Biden Administration has been gathering data on every natural element and process. The American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas initiated under 30x30 is quantifying the natural resources and their protected status.
The recent USDA farm survey required landowners to provide more information about their operations than ever before. Failing to do so would be a violation of law. They are collecting data about the natural assets, natural processes, and ecosystem services for a reason — to establish these assets to be used as collateral to increase the national debt, as new vehicles to tax the American people, and as the asset base for an investment product
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is creating large
“Conservation Areas” around National Wildlife Refuges
, where the private land is targeted for acquisition and conservation easements in perpetuity. Most recently, they announced the creation of a 5.8-million-acre conservation area in Montana: The Missouri Headwaters Conservation Area.
This was done without the knowledge of the State, even though 500,000 acres of State land and over two million acres of private land are included within the designated area. The IEG website uses the example of “conservation areas” to describe how an NAC can be created in “Hybrid Areas” where there is a mix of protected and working lands, as well as small communities within the companies boundaries.
The conservation easements held by Environmental and Agriculture Land Trusts, as well as Federal Agencies, can be enrolled into the NAC with or without the landowner’s permission. They stand to gain a huge profit off the backs of America’s landowners. This includes the federal conservation easements such as the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Agriculture Conservation Easement Program funded through the Farm Bill.
IT IS TIME TO MAKE SOME PHONE CALLS TO YOUR REPRESENTITIVES!!!!