FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is calling for House Republican leadership to hold a hearing to evaluate recent efforts to open federal property to public and foreign ownership.
Banks wrote a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R.N.C., requesting that the panel schedule a hearing on so-called natural asset companies (NACs).
Although a federal proposal to publicly list NACs was recently withdrawn, its proponents are reportedly committed to pushing for the new corporate taxonomy. An NAC is a type of company licensed to “protect, restore and grow the natural assets under its management to foster healthy ecosystems.”
“The environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement, while ostensibly focused on financial markets, is now using NACs to bring its partisan and progressive influence to public lands management,” Banks wrote to McHenry in the letter shared with Fox News Digital. “This is a worrying fact that should be addressed by the Committee.
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Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., questions witnesses during a House hearing on Feb. 28, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“The Committee should require the SEC to provide a more intelligible explanation of the purported benefits of including NAC in an open hearing,” he continued. “Furthermore, like ESG, investing in NAC will be more damaging to the average American's portfolio. There are serious financial questions about whether they will generate any returns for investors.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Banks said House Republicans must defend property rights in the US.
“Natural asset companies are one of the most terrifying and anti-American ideas to come out of the ESG movement, which says a lot. Republicans in Congress must fight this attack on Americans' private property rights,” said the lawmaker from Indiana.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) states that NACs “capture the intrinsic and productive value of nature and provide a store of value based on the vital assets that underpin our entire economy and make life on Earth possible.” The NYSE says natural assets that could be pooled in a NAC include forests, wetlands and coral reefs, as well as working lands such as farms.
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In 2023, the NYSE proposed a rule change to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would have allowed NACs to list on the exchange. The NYSE collaborated on the proposal with financial services firm Intrinsic Exchange Group, which first floated the idea of listing NAC as a free-market solution to climate change.
But in January, after receiving widespread criticism from Republican state financial officials and attorneys general, and later from Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee, the SEC announced in a filing that the NYSE had terminated the proposal.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R.N.C., speaks during a hearing on March 29, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“It's hard to overstate the danger that so-called 'natural asset companies' pose to the livelihoods of millions of Americans,” Will Hild, executive director of the watchdog group Consumers' Research, previously told Fox News Digital. “Large woke corporations, including BlackRock and foreign companies from hostile nations like China, would have free rein to purchase millions of acres of public lands.
“Livestock, agriculture, energy production and many other critical industries would be denied shared access to public lands, eliminating their productive use,” Hild added. “Even people who use public lands for recreation and hunting could suddenly find themselves deprived of their access.”
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Still, Banks said in his letter to McHenry that while the NYSE proposal was withdrawn, the possibility of listing NAC in the future still exists.
Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, speaks during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on March 29, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Douglas Eger, president and CEO of Intrinsic Exchange Group, recently told media outlet Agri-Pulse that his company remained “committed” to advancing NACs.
“We will go to the private markets and find a suitable exit to the public markets, both domestically and internationally,” Eger said.
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McHenry did not respond to a request for comment.
