What are Natural Asset Companies? (Updated 1/17/24)

UPDATE 1/17/24: The Idaho Dispatch reported on Wednesday that the NYSE has withdrawn the proposal to list NACs on the stock exchange.

A new idea has been floating around to allow quasi-private corporations to manage public lands for conservation purposes. Elected officials in western states have been sounding the alarm.

A few weeks ago, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) submitted a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list so-called natural asset companies (NACs) for trade. The Idaho Dispatch reported that several AGs and US senators requested more time for the SEC to review the proposal, so it remains pending for now.

State Treasurer Marlo Oaks of Utah put it plainly:

“The proposed creation of Natural Asset Companies is one of the greatest threats to rural communities in the history of our country. Under the proposal, private interests, including foreign-controlled sovereign wealth funds, could use their capital to purchase or manage farmland, national and state parks, and other mineral-rich areas and stop essential economic activities like farming, grazing, and energy extraction.”

With more than half of Idaho’s lands under the management of the federal government, this proposal threatens our state too. Rep. Ron Mendive, chairman of the House Resources & Conservation Committee, hosted a short discussion Monday afternoon where he shared his own concerns with the proposal.

Mendive wondered why a company that doesn’t produce goods or even make a profit would be listed on a stock exchange. How would investors expect to make a return? He pointed out that the proposal aims to “…enable investors to access nature’s store of wealth to transform our industrial economy into one that’s more equitable.” It sounds like they want to bring ESG to our public lands.

Governor Brad Little noticed the same thing, signing onto a letter with three other western governors who expressed concern about “backdoor ESG” and requested more time for the SEC to review the proposal.

Mendive seemed unsure of what he and his committee could do. He said that he spoke with Deputy Attorney General Scott Campbell to see if a House resolution would be in order, and was told it couldn’t hurt. Rep. Megan Blanksma said that she was already working on a draft, so Mendive suggested she work with Campbell.

The Attorney General’s office already filed an amicus curiae last summer regarding a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal to set aside areas of public land under so-called conservation leases that would making conservation the primary use of the land, above resource extraction, timber, grazing, recreation, or anything else it is currently used for. I assume that conservation leases and natural asset companies are part of the same aim of the Biden government to take power over public lands away from oversight of our elected representatives.

This is just the beginning of what will surely be a great debate over how our public lands are managed. Stay tuned.