Alaska Revenue Commissioner Crum joins 29 other states opposing ‘Natural Asset Company’ land grabs

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It’s “hide the decline” time with this one “nature trick,” per the New York Stock Exchange.

Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum has signed on with 29 other states opposing a proposal in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission that would allow “Natural Asset Companies” (NACs) to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange as part of a eco-land preservation system that promises, mysteriously, to yield profit as it ties up productive land. Read the proposal at this SEC link.

Alaska would be a target for such a scheme, since more than 60% of the state is owned by the federal government, Commissioner Crum said.

“To convert natural assets into financial capital, IEG has developed an accounting framework to measure ecological performance. Natural assets produce an estimated $125 trillion annually in global ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity and clean water,” according to a description by the New York Stock Exchange.

This is carbon sequestration, next generation.

“The NAC is a transformational solution whereby natural ecosystems are not simply a potential resource to extract, but an investible productive asset which provides financial capital to responsible stewards of ecological resources. As a publicly traded equity, NACs will enable investors to allocate capital efficiently to meet their sustainability objectives,” the NYSE says.

It’s all part of ESG — Environmental, Social, Governance — the new fad in woke company and government management, where social and environmental goals are part of a social scoring system.

While it sounds somewhat benign on the surface, Crum and other states’ officers signing the letter say this novel accounting trick is even a threat to national security.

“Alaska’s focus on food security will be hampered if farmers can’t access lands and waters for crops and livestock. Access to Mining districts for critical minerals could be cut off, and petroleum industry workers could find themselves shut out of large swaths of productive lands. This shift, influenced by the administration’s environmental priorities, could lead to increased dependence on external sources for critical minerals and energy, as resources within the US become restricted under NACs,” Crum said, according to the letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Our concerns with this proposal are many. However, the fatal flaw underlying the concept under consideration is the attempt to create economic value from processes not backed by economic activity,” the officials argue. “First, NACs are private entities which make a business out of reducing economic activity. Second, NACs rely on untested methods of accounting which we do not believe have any place in the public markets. Third, NACs present serious national security concerns.”

The fact that NACs “cannot make money through productive use of the lands they will manage” is of concern to the officials, and they contend that the alternative accounting system used to value NACs – standards that deviate from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) – “are not suitable for use in the US capital markets,” the state officials say in the letter.

What’s worse, is there are no controls on foreign companies’ investments in NACs, which could allow enemy nations to essentially shut down land to destroy the American economy by ending mining, ranching, and energy development.

According to the Daily Caller News Foundation, the House Natural Resources Committee has the SEC’s proposed new rule on the table for scrutiny. Republicans have concerns about productive land use and management as well as private interests potentially taking control of public lands.

The Republicans on the committee are concerned that the concept of NACS was developed by Intrinsic Exchange Group Inc. (IEG), a private company incorporated in Delaware. Douglas Eger, the CEO of Intrinsic Exchange Group, says, ” As a conservationist, I preserved 7,000 acres of land 100 miles NW of New York City in partnership with The Open Space Institute and The Trust for Public Lands,” on his LinkedIn page. His idea seems to be to put all public land in America into a gigantic land trust that companies can make a profit from. It’s a cyber currency scheme but for ecological goals.

Stranger still, the New York Stock Exchange has acquired a minority stake in IEG and has even obtained a seat on IEG’s board of directors.

In IEG’s words, “Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) is introducing a new type of company whose equity captures the value of natural assets and the ecosystem services they produce. Natural Asset Companies (NACs) are fundamentally different than traditional companies because they are chartered to protect, restore, and grow the natural assets under their management to foster healthy ecosystems.”

“IEG partnered with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to create a special listing section for NAC equities, and we are going through the process of obtaining SEC approval for the NAC listing rules, based on IEG’s NAC Reporting Framework,” the company writes on its website.

“By taking a NAC public through an IPO, the market transaction will succeed in converting the long-understood – but to-date unpriced – value of nature into financial capital. This monetization event will generate the funding needed to manage, restore, and grow healthy ecosystems around the world and bring us closer to achieving a truly sustainable, circular economy,” IEG writes.

The proposed rule change due to the efforts of the NYSE, which has a seat on the IEG board, seeking SEC approval for the “unique listing requirements tailored to NACS and incorporating IEG’s accounting methodology.”

Read the letter at the Daily Caller.

11 COMMENTS

  1. This is just a legal trick cooked up by big nosed lawyers in NYC and DC thinktanks. Publicly traded companies have to be able to show they are acting in their shareholder’s best interest. Fail to do this and you can be taken to court.

    Problem is that ESG, by definition, conflicts with profitability. Distraction from your core industry to do social crusading tends to be bad for your bottom line. Hiring a ‘diverse’ workforce is bad for your bottom line. Spending money pandering to environmentalists that will never be satisfied until we de-industrialize – is bad for the bottom line.

    This is just about creating new ‘magic’ metrics, rigging the game to allow companies to enact ESG policies and still ‘legally’ say they are acting in shareholders best interest, despite it being obvious nonsense.

    “This quarter our 2024 ‘low IQ employee outreach’ caused us to lose over 100 million dollars in recalls, but we also received an equivalent to 200 million LEED green bunny credits for having enough Obama lookalikes on our payroll – so BIG SUCCESS!”

  2. Just when you think that the sociopaths who rule over us have reached the limit of their predatory financialization of life, they manage to top themselves … and again, and again, and again.

  3. The Global elites have already floated the idea of eminent domain to confiscate land for “climate change mitigation” as they say not enough is being done. If we don’t surrender all our lands, we’re going to die. Sadly, there is a large portion of our population that believes this nonsense.

  4. I have a strong suspicion that the next Trump administration is going to wad this entire eco land preservation business up and toss it into the fireplace by the end of February of 2025.

  5. In the end, the only solution to the progressive, communist, malthusian, globalists is a very bloody, bloody war.
    Or we submit to a dystopian, draconian life.

  6. So, we told China they can’t buy up any more land in the U.S. That showed ’em a thing or two.
    .
    But wait, what if a company can make control of land profitable without actually using the land?
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    What if a company can profit from ecological performance such as conservation, restoration, or sustainable management?
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    Think of it like ecological cryptocurrency. It’s there, it’s valuable but you can’t grab a handful.
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    Natural Asset Companies can quantify and monetize natural things like air or water.
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    “Quantify and monetize”? That means the company says what “their” air and water are worth.
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    In other words the the air and water which collectively belonged (past tense) to all Americanss would now belong to corporations run by environmental special interests.

    What prevents Natural Asset Companies from controlling land belonging to sovereign nations and private landowners?
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    What prevents Sovereign nations, such as the United States Government, from providing their lands to private investors, —including those outside the United States—?
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    What prevents China, Alaska’s best trading partner, from investing in a Natural Asset Company, effectively becoming a stakeholder in Alaska’s national parks, parlaying ownership into a wholly owned gas line?
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    What prevents Russia from assuming control of Alaskan lands currently leased to produce oil, placing them off limits for future natural resource development?
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    Thank you, Commissioner Crum, for helping euthanize this thing before it crawls out of the crib.
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    If a crowd of peasants ready with torches and pitchforks can help, say the word.

  7. This policy must be fought tooth and nail to the bitter end. This is no less than the economic life of our state and us. This proposed policy would allow foreign nations to buy ill defined rights to our public lands and completely close access under the guise of green initiatives. Look at what Bill Gates and the Chinese government have been able to do with US farm land or the attempted eminent domain claims in Michigan to give a lithium battery start up to China by washing it through Ford. These are real threats to our sovereignty and our economic existence. We better not lose sight of this or we become China’s next Belt and Road acquisition. Another reason to forever oppose Bill Walker and his gas line for China scheme.

  8. “It’s “hide the decline” time with this one “nature trick,”” oh come on now, your taking those statements out of context. It’s not like climate change is some new world order conspiracy. Why can’t people save the planet and make money at the same time?

  9. Well here we go again Adam Crum is another Illegal Appointee!
    Administration of Revenue
    Department of Revenue.
    AS 43.05.140. Bond of commissioner.
    Before taking office, the commissioner shall furnish a bond to the state. The bond shall be approved by the attorney general and filed with the Department of Administration, and a copy of it shall be filed in the attorney general’s office. The bond shall be conditioned that the principal will faithfully discharge the duties of the office, keep a strict, true and correct account of all money disbursed, and that the principal will properly account for it and will pay over to a successor or other person entitled by law to receive it all money or property in the hands or possession of the principal, in accordance with law; or, in default, that the parties executing the bond will pay to the state and others injured all damages, costs, and expenses resulting from the default… The amount of the bond shall be $200,000, but if the funds in the treasury of the state exceed the amount of the bond given by the commissioner, or if for any reason the governor and the Department of Administration consider the bond insufficient they shall notify the commissioner of that fact, and the commissioner shall give the additional bond with sufficient sureties, within the time and in the amount that the governor and the Department of Administration consider necessary for the safety of the state.
    Question : how many violations of the Governors Oath can “WE THE PEOPLE” take ? I say it’s time to call him on it but he will not pick up the phone !!!

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