House Republicans on the Natural Resources Committee are investigating the Biden administration’s proposal to allow Natural Asset Companies (NACs) to be publicly traded, expressing concerns about potential risks to energy, national security, and federal land management.
They argue that NACs could lead to private control of public lands, potentially impacting wildlife habitat, conservation, and natural resource development.
The proposal aligns with environmental conservation interests and could allow foreign investment, raising concerns about energy production, mineral dependence, and national security. (Trending: Trump Responds To Biden’s Bombing In Yemen)
The investigation follows a delay in the SEC’s rulemaking and has garnered support from state financial officers and attorneys general.
“The Committee is deeply concerned with the potential impact NACs may have on the management of federal lands, effective conservation of wildlife habitat, and responsible development of natural resources,” House Republicans wrote.
“Most notably, the proposed rule would allow private investment interests to control and manage national parks and other publicly owned lands — an unprecedented power-grab and usurpation of federal authority,” they added. “This possibility is alarming, but, when coupled with the proposal’s arbitrary designations and ill-defined terms, it may prove calamitous to the statutory multiple-use mandates of federal lands and responsible development of America’s natural resources.”
“Additionally, as part of the Committee’s ongoing oversight of foreign interests that attempt to influence America’s environmental, natural resource, and energy policies, the Committee is concerned with allowing foreign investment into America’s most precious assets,” lawmakers wrote.
“For example, allowing foreign interests to fund companies that will control public land and explicitly prohibit domestic mineral production is a surefire way to increase our nation’s critical mineral dependance while weakening America’s economic competitiveness, our national security and that of our allies,” they added. “This is unacceptable.”
Critics view NACs as a threat to national security due to the potential for foreign entities to invest in and control natural resources.
“The recognition of national asset companies would be a disastrous development. It would violate multiple laws, would prohibit productive economic uses of relevant land, and would facilitate the effective takeover of public lands by private entities and foreign actors,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said. “We intend to prevent this from happening.”
“NACs present national security risks because foreign adversaries could invest in a NAC and lock up our natural resources,” Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks stated. “This would lead to greater dependence on foreign countries for essential resources, to say nothing of the potential scarcity this might create.”
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