Rule would monetize the air we breathe and the water we drink, giving Wall Street power over common assets.
(Washington, DC) – January 18, 2024: Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrew the proposed Natural Asset Company Rule, which would have created a new class of private companies that would monetize the air we breathe and the water we drink.
“Natural Asset Companies” (NAC) primary purpose “is to actively manage, maintain, restore … and grow the value of natural assets and their production of ecosystem services.” Examples of ecosystem services under the proposed Rule would be “air, water supply, flood protection, productive soils … climate stability, habitat for wildlife, among others….” These NACs would be prohibited from using the lands in “unsustainable” ways, such as mining.
The Financial Freedom Alliance (FFA) was one of the first organizations to inform the public of the dangers of this proposal. The FFA provided comments to the SEC that highlighted the potential for fraud. FFA’s comments were cited in a letter by 23 state attorneys general. After intense public backlash, the SEC had to withdraw the proposal.
“As one of the leading early voices sounding the alarm on the SEC’s absurd Natural Asset Companies proposal, the Financial Fairness Alliance applauds the decision today to shelve this ill-conceived idea that was cooked up by the global elites in Davos and force-fed to the American people through this unaccountable agency,” says FFA Director Justin Bis, “We hope this proposal is dead in the water as it was rife with potential ethics issues and overreach. However, not only is this just the latest bad concept emanating from today’s SEC but its architects are promising to keep the scheme alive, so we will remain vigilant in defending against further efforts to expand this agency’s statutory mission.”
The defeat of this initial NAC proposal isn’t the end of FFA’s fight. While this is an important win, we recognize that many more attempts to steal from the American public will follow.
The next battle will be to investigate and expose similar efforts to distort markets and diminish Americans’ wealth. FFA will fight every attempt to implement the fraudulent United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting (UN-SEEA) on the American government.
The American people deserves an honest SEC that, instead of trying to impose a new economic system over the American people, protects Americans from fraud and financial crime.
Financial Fairness Alliance: The Financial Fairness Alliance (FFA) works to shine a light on how activist financial regulators, and specifically the SEC, distort capital markets. A toxic combination of nonfinancial priorities, burdensome regulations and inconsistent enforcement actions – implemented by a largely unaccountable bureaucracy – end up rigging the game to favor the largest interests and lead to sometimes tragic unintended consequences.
FFA believes the markets must work for all Americans, and that means opening the agencies to Congress, the media and ultimately, the American people. Using tools that include Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, litigation if necessary, and timely communications outreach, FFA makes Congress, investors and the public better informed about the impact the regulators have on our economic system.