{"id":298343,"date":"2024-01-24T18:15:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T17:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=298343"},"modified":"2024-01-24T18:15:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T17:15:28","slug":"nyse-withdraws-biden-backed-rule-that-would-stymie-development-on-millions-of-acres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=298343","title":{"rendered":"NYSE withdraws Biden-backed rule that would stymie development on millions of acres"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

via CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Facing growing public resistance and the near certainty of a resounding defeat in the courts, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Jan. 17 withdrew a proposed rule that would have created a new asset class \u2014 known as \u201cNatural Asset Companies\u201d (NACs) \u2014 designed not to make money for investors, but to serve as an instrument for the imposition of illegal and unconstitutional environmental policy on millions of acres of private and public lands across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NYSE\u2019s stunning retreat was announced without comment by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which was tasked with either approving or disapproving the creation of NACs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the proposed rule, the NYSE was to add to its Listed Company Manual the listing of common equity securities of NACs. According to the proposed rule, this would be \u201ca corporation whose primary purpose would be to actively manage, maintain, restore (as applicable), and grow the values of natural assets and their production of ecosystem services.\u201d The NYSE\u2019s proposed rule characterized \u201cthe distinct purpose of a NAC\u201d as \u201cprotect[ing] and grow[ing] the natural assets under its management.\u201d The proposed rule specifically defined NACs as \u201c[c]orporations that hold the rights to the ecological performance of a defined area and have the authority to manage the area for conservation, restoration, or sustainable management.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Idea Rooted in Cronyism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NACs, as a concept, owe their existence to Intrinsic Exchange Group Inc (IEG). According to a September 2021 press release by the Rockefeller Foundation, \u201cIEG was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur and environmentalist Douglas Eger. IEG received critical funding from IDB Lab, Inter-American Development Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation, Aberdare Ventures, and Intrinsic Entertainment Ideas.\u201d The Rockefeller Foundation alone donated $750,000 to IEG in 2019 and $1 million to IEG in 2021, according to public comments submitted Jan. 9 to the SEC by 25 state attorneys general, led by Sean D. Reyes of Utah and Kris W. Kobach of Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rockefeller Foundation press release indicates that NACs are a joint project of the NYSE and IEG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new asset class on the NYSE will create a virtuous cycle of investment with an innovation mechanism to finance sustainable development for communities, companies, and countries. \u2026 Together,<\/em> IEG and NYSE<\/em> will enable investors to access nature\u2019s store of wealth and transform our industrial economy into one that is more equitable.\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rockefeller Foundation goes on to quote the NYSE\u2019s then-president, Stacey Cunningham, as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the introduction of Natural Asset Companies, the NYSE will provide investors with an innovative mechanism to financially support the sustainability initiatives they deem critical to our future. Our partnership with the Intrinsic Exchange Group<\/em> is another example of the NYSE tapping into our community to drive meaningful progress on ESG [environmental, social, and governance] issues with a solutions-based approach.\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the open acknowledgment of a cozy relationship between the NYSE and other entities supporting the creation of NACs, key terms or phrases like \u201ccommunity,\u201d \u201ccommunities,\u201d \u201cequitable,\u201d \u201cour future,\u201d \u201cvirtuous,\u201d \u201csustainable,\u201d \u201csustainability,\u201d \u201csustainable development,\u201d and \u201ctransform\u201d are left conspicuously undefined in both the Rockefeller Foundation press release and in the proposed rule. Furthermore, the release admits that \u201cthe value created by NACs is not fully captured by traditional economic metrics.\u201d This is another way of saying that NACs will not and cannot make a profit. NACs will invest in \u201cnature\u201d, where the only value created is the purported protection of nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, NACs would not be traditional investment vehicles into which everyday Americans could put their money with a reasonable expectation of receiving a good return. Instead, they would be state-sanctioned instruments of environmental policy as favored by powerful elites ensconced in wealthy foundations, the NYSE, corporate boardrooms, and federal regulatory agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violating the Law<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the role NACs would play in serving as a funding mechanism for the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM) recent proposed rule, \u201cConservation and Landscape Health,\u201d which authorizes BLM to grant \u201cconservation leases\u201d on public lands. BLM assures the public that such leases would be \u201cfor the purpose of ensuring ecosystem resilience through protecting, managing, or restoring natural environments, cultural or historic resources, and ecological communities, including species and their habitats.\u201d The proposed BLM rule provides that \u201donce the BLM has issued a conservation lease, the BLM shall not authorize any other use of the leased lands<\/em> that are inconsistent with the authorized conservation use.\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, the BLM rule is an effort to circumvent federal laws governing how public lands are to be managed, not least the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLMPA). FLPMA mandates that BLM manage public lands \u201con the basis of multiple use and sustained yield.\u201d This means that BLM must provide for a \u201ccombination of balanced and diverse uses,\u201d of which the \u201cprinciple or major uses\u201d include \u201cand are limited to, domestic livestock grazing, fish and wildlife development and utilization, mineral exploration and development, rights-of-way, outdoor recreation, and timber production.\u201d Nothing in FLPMA authorizes the granting of \u201cconservation leases,\u201d and the BLM rule\u2019s restrictions on productive economic uses of lands under such leases put it at odds with congressional intent as clearly laid out in FLPMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By violating the clear language of FLPMA, the proposed BLM rule is illegal and destined to be overturned by the courts. Yet, its provision creating \u201cconservation leases\u201d is inextricably linked to the NYSE NACs rule submitted to the SEC. Such leases will not provide financial returns to the leaseholders. On the contrary, they are specifically designed to lock up lands by prohibiting any significant economic activity on them. So, which entities would sink money into these unprofitable leases?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer in NACs. Like the BLM\u2019s conservation leases, the NYSE\u2019s NACs are not designed to make money. As the 25 state attorneys general noted in their public comments submitted to the SEC:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe BLM rule authorizes BLM to issue leases that limit public lands to no use or to extremely limited uses. The NYSE\u2019s proposed rule, in turn, provides the mechanism by which companies can obtain the funding necessary to pay for those money-loosing leases. In this way, the proposed [NYSE] rule is part of an interlocking scheme designed to facilitate another agency\u2019s violation of the law \u2013 namely, BLM\u2019s issuance of illegal conservation leases. Facilitating another agency\u2019s violations is a textbook example of ultra vires<\/em> agency action \u2018not in accordance with law.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the shaky legal ground on which both the NYSE NACs rule and the BLM conservation-lease rule stand, the powers that be at the NYSE decided to cut their losses and withdraw their proposal. The economic and social harm to everyday Americans by the scheme\u2019s plan to lock up so much of the nation\u2019s natural resources in perpetuity is incalculable. And, as noted in The Washington Times<\/em> (Jan. 17) by Carla Sands, vice chair of the Center for Energy & Environment at the America First Policy Institute, the grandiose undertaking \u201cwould outsource the stewardship of precious American resources, including public lands, to companies like BlackRock and even foreign investors in places like Russia China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact on \u201c30 X 30\u2033<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demise of NACs also represents a stinging setback to the Biden administration\u2019s plan to \u201cprotect\u201d (meaning to remove from economic use) \u201cat least\u201d 30 percent of the nation\u2019s land and water by 2030. One of the ways of reaching the \u201c30 X 30 Plan\u2019s\u201d goal was to use NACs in combination with the BLM\u2019s conservation leases to take as much land as possible out of productive use. The White House\u2019s landgrabbers will now have to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFACT was honored to join the American Stewards of Liberty, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the state attorneys general, and many other grassroots groups in exposing and ultimately bringing down this patently illegal scheme by elites to deny ordinary Americans access to their land\u2019s bountiful resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, David took out Goliath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facing growing public resistance and the near certainty of a resounding defeat in the courts, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Jan. 17 withdrew a proposed rule that would have created a new asset class \u2014 known as \u201cNatural Asset Companies\u201d (NACs) \u2014 designed not to make money for investors, but to serve as an instrument for the imposition of illegal and unconstitutional environmental policy on millions of acres of private and public lands across the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":298347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Facing growing public resistance and the near certainty of a resounding defeat in the courts, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Jan. 17 withdrew a proposed rule that would have created a new asset class \u2014 known as \u201cNatural Asset Companies\u201d (NACs) \u2014 desig","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691826520,691826521,691826405,691826390,691818772],"class_list":{"0":"post-298343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-bureau-of-land-managements-blm","9":"tag-environmental-policy","10":"tag-new-york-stock-exchange-nyse","11":"tag-securities-and-exchange-commission-sec","12":"tag-u-s-president-joe-biden","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0facade-New-York-Stock-Exchange-City.webp?fit=1490%2C983&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1fBZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":297063,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297063","url_meta":{"origin":298343,"position":0},"title":"Rule Proposal Critics Warned Could Harm Energy Security Rescinded Amid Mounting Scrutiny","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) withdrew its proposal that would pave the way for \u201cNatural Asset Companies\u201d (NACs) to become a new type of financial product on Wednesday, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-314.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-314.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-314.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-314.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":299189,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=299189","url_meta":{"origin":298343,"position":1},"title":"Victory as dangerous \u201cnatural asset companies\u201d proposal fails","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"31\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Fall, radical Greens and their woke allies in Big Business moved to create something called \u201cNatural Asset Companies\u201d [NACs]. These were cockamamie firms, designed to be placed on the New York Stock Exchange for the purpose of tying up public and private lands by doing nothing on them whatsoever.","rel":"","context":"In \"Big Business\"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Victory-Wallpaper-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Victory-Wallpaper-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Victory-Wallpaper-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Victory-Wallpaper-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Victory-Wallpaper-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":297111,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297111","url_meta":{"origin":298343,"position":2},"title":"Victory! SEC drops \u201cnatural asset companies.\u201d Read our official submission","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Read CFACT\u2019s official Submission to SEC: \u201cNatural asset companies\u201d are a ploy by the anti-development crowd to thwart safe and constructive land use. The SEC should not sanction non-use over optimal use of resources.","rel":"","context":"In \"Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow\"","block_context":{"text":"Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=committee-for-a-constructive-tomorrow"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0-Victory.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0-Victory.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0-Victory.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0-Victory.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0-Victory.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":297478,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297478","url_meta":{"origin":298343,"position":3},"title":"Beware the SEC’s Creation of ‘Natural Asset’ Companies","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"To anyone who tracks the efforts of environmentalists, their policies often have an ulterior motive. They neither result in a better society nor do they produce better habitats. Their policy preferences also do not consider how using the land improves the land for man and wildlife.","rel":"","context":"In \"Natural Asset Company (NAC)\"","block_context":{"text":"Natural Asset Company (NAC)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=natural-asset-company-nac"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0am22-1200x925-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C925&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0am22-1200x925-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C925&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0am22-1200x925-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C925&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0am22-1200x925-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C925&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0am22-1200x925-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C925&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":296175,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=296175","url_meta":{"origin":298343,"position":4},"title":"Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks: SEC \u2018financializing Mother Nature\u2019 with Natural Asset Company rule","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In Episode 409 of District of Conservation, Gabriella interviews Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks. Treasurer Oaks was first appointed to the position in July 2021 and then elected in November 2022.","rel":"","context":"In \"\u2060Natural Resources Committee:\"","block_context":{"text":"\u2060Natural Resources Committee:","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=%e2%81%a0natural-resources-committee"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0UT-Marlo-Oaks.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0UT-Marlo-Oaks.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0UT-Marlo-Oaks.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0UT-Marlo-Oaks.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0UT-Marlo-Oaks.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":294434,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294434","url_meta":{"origin":298343,"position":5},"title":"Natural Asset Companies: Greenwashing Wolves in Eco-Friendly Wool","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Natural Asset Companies are an abomination in the process of being considered for listing as public companies on the New York Stock Exchange, by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The evils of this new type of entity cannot be overstated.","rel":"","context":"In \"Eco-Friendly Wool\"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-Friendly Wool","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=eco-friendly-wool"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-159.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-159.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-159.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-159.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=298343"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298350,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298343\/revisions\/298350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/298347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=298343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=298343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=298343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}