NAC Stopped – Here’s how we Slayed the NAC Giant
On January 17, 2024, when the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) issued its statement that the New York Stock Exchange had withdrawn their proposed rule to create Natural Asset Companies, we were obviously elated. But how Natural Asset Companies became a national story and were quickly defeated is a true David vs. Goliath battle for our times.
It Was Quietly Launched September of 2021
When American Stewards of Liberty exposed Biden’s “30×30 Land Grab” in January of 2021, we knew the plan went beyond conserving 30 percent of the land by 2030 and was designed to gain functional control of America’s natural resources.
This agenda became clear in September of 2021 when we discovered a group backed by the Rockefeller Foundation, Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG), had partnered with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to create a new investment vehicle known as “Natural Asset Companies,” or NACs.
IEG proposed to quantify and, for the first time, monetize natural processes and ecosystem services through a vehicle that would allow global elites and foreign adversaries to profit from, and control, development of America’s natural resources.
Alongside the creation of the private investment vehicle, the Biden Administration released their draft national strategy to create “Natural Capital Accounts (NCAs),” in September of 2022. The strategy was first announced on earth day, April of 2022 and would later be finalized in January of 2023. This would place the value of these same natural processes and ecosystem services on the federal balance sheet, inflating our collateral base and distorting our GDP.
The Department of the Interior connected the dots between 30×30 and NCAs in their 2022 Report on 30×30 (aka “America the Beautiful). We no longer had to guess where they were headed and therefore sent our findings to one of the bravest investigative reporters we know, Elizabeth Nickson. She wrote one of the earliest pieces on this scam in 2022 and continued to write several more pieces in 2023, methodically pulling back the layers.
In April of 2023, while meeting with Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, we introduced him to this emerging issue. At his request, we prepared the first briefing paper, later circulated among key national leaders and members of Congress.
From May up until the release of the proposed rule in October, we met with numerous elected leaders at the local, state, and federal level, and shared our work with trusted colleagues. This attempt to create NACs was so quietly set into motion that no one was aware of this stealth attack on our property rights, national security, and sovereignty.
It was so advanced that Douglas Eger, CEO of IEG in their announcement said: “Together, IEG and the NYSE will enable investors to access nature’s store of wealth and transform our industrial economy into one that is more equitable.” What we now know is “equitable” means a massive transfer of the control of resources and economy, from American citizens to a handful of elites.
We published our first story for our members in August called “Monetizing the Air We Breathe” in our Third Quarter “Standing Ground” journal. The Federal Newswire began its own investigation, releasing several early articles.
Then, we publicly unraveled the scheme at our “Stop 30×30 Summit” on September 22nd in Dallas, Texas. It was 12 short days later that the SEC issued their proposed rule to approve NACs.
NAC Approval Date Set for November 18, 2023
With the release of the rule on October 4th, the 45-day clock to approve the rule began. Only 21 days were allowed for public comment, and the day of final approval was calendared for November 18th, 2023.
There was no press release, no news story, no fanfare, just the Notice issued by the SEC. Thankfully, it was one of our Summit attendees who picked up the pre-publication notice a few days before the 4th and alerted us.
We issued our second Briefing Paper entitled “SEC Proposed Rule for Natural Asset Companies” on October 18, 2023, 14 days after the formal SEC notification and took it immediately to members of Congress. Again, hardly anyone knew of the IEG proposal or the NYSE request for a rule change at the SEC.
We were able to pull together several organizations and individuals starting with our Property Rights Task Force where one of our team members, Gabriella Hoffman, quickly published a column on the topic in Townhall. We also teamed up with great strategists in Washington, D.C., which led to a key introduction to Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks.
Treasurer Oaks wasted no time sounding the alarm through an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal. From that point forward, our team members had op-eds in Real Clear Markets and the Washington Times. National news publications, such as Just the News, The Epoch Times and others began digging into the story. All our partners made appearances on numerous programs including The Glenn Beck Program, Steve Bannon’s War Room, and dozens of national podcasts.
American Stewards, along with a handful of other great organizations like the Financial Fairness Alliance, the Kansas Natural Resource Coalition, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the BlueRibbon Coalition filed comments on the last day of the original comment period preserving our standing to sue the SEC, NYSE, and IEG.
First Victories
At our request, Senators Ricketts (R-NE), Risch (R-ID), and Crapo (R-ID) sent a letter to the SEC on November 2nd asking six key questions related to the SEC’s authority to approve enrollment of federal assets in private investment vehicles. We believe it was largely this letter that brought our first victory, as it noticed the agency that Congress was looking into the action. The SEC extended their decision date to January 2nd.
During the first 45 days, after one short two-minute call with Rep. Harriet Hageman from Wyoming, the Congresswomen moved swiftly and advanced a defunding provision for the SEC rule and then developed a probing letter sent to the SEC on December 15th, signed by 31 U.S. House members. The Congresswoman and her staff also worked diligently to get her colleagues up to speed so they too could take appropriate action.
Immediately after that, Treasurer Oaks helped the State Financial Officers Foundation lead a letter signed by 23 state Financial Officers objecting to the formation of NACs, demanding the SEC reopen the comment period.
These two critical letters secured our second key victory. On December 28th, the SEC announced they were initiating proceedings into the rule and reopening comments for an additional 21 days ending on January 18th.
Importantly, national groups like Eagle Forum, Sovereignty Coalition, American-Agri Women, R-CALF, Club for Growth, Allegheny Forest Alliance, and others sounded the alarm, issued alerts, set up online portals so people could easily contact their congressional leaders and submit comments to the SEC. Frank Gaffney, James Lindsey, and many others lit up social media. The SEC portal went from less that 15 comments filed after the first deadline, to over 2,000 filed by January 17th, with 99 percent opposed.
The House Western Caucus (HWC) held a briefing for member’s staff, giving us the opportunity to educate many key leaders in one sitting. The HWC also teamed up with its Senate counterpart resulting in a strong letter from the two chairs: Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).
But one of the hardest hitting letters issued was signed by 25 States’ Attorneys General who unequivocally made the case that the SEC was violating securities law in their attempt to approve NACs. With this came the message that 25 States were prepared to sue the Biden Administration if they did not withdraw the proposed rule.
It was Treasurer Oaks that led the state actions to oppose NACs. Not only did he reach out to fellow Treasurer’s nationwide, but he personally briefed officers at all levels in the state governments. He worked tirelessly to sound the alarm of how monetizing these arbitrary values for nature could harm our national economy.
However, even with all these key leaders stepping up and challenging NACs, the one critical House Committee that failed to do so was Financial Services. This is the committee with direct oversight of the SEC. We learned that the IEG and NYSE briefed the member’s staff, and after this meeting, it was determined the committee would not get involved in the rulemaking process. We were also told the rule would be approved — there was nothing to be done to stop NACs.
Three key members of this committee broke ranks and signed Rep. Hageman’s letter. These were Representatives Ralph Norman (R-SC), Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Bill Posey (R-FL). It cannot be overstated how detrimental the failed action of the House Financial Services Committee was to the national sovereignty of our nation, and the individual property rights of the people. Every member of that committee should be held accountable by their electorate. The NYSE, IEG and SEC believed they had secured passage of the rule without having to face Congressional oversight.
Final Victory
To their surprise, however, on January 11th, Bruce Westerman (R-AK), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, along with 15 members, signed a letter initiating a probe into the SEC rule. Instead of standing down, Chairman Westerman stepped up and directed his staff to begin the oversight proceedings through his committee, which has jurisdiction over America’s federal lands.
And that, we believe, was the final straw that stopped NACs.
American Stewards was in Washington, D.C. January 17, 2024, when we heard the news. Through a call from Treasurer Oaks and a text from Rep. Hageman, we learned that the NYSE had withdrawn their application to create NACs. The following day Senator Pete Ricketts called to congratulate us on the win. The proposed rule was dead.
It was a strategic campaign launched by a small group of property rights advocates that exploded into a national call to action. We defeated the IEG, NYSE and SEC in three short months. As word of the devious scheme spread across the country people everywhere rose up to oppose this rule. People who may have never engaged in these types of battles, did so to help us stop the NACs.
The NYSE, IEG and Biden Administration attempted to fleece our property rights in the dead of night, but instead, they were handed a resounding defeat, and we gained a powerful force for Liberty that crossed issue aisles to fight the tyrants.
No doubt this story will miss mentioning key people who stepped forward and were key to the NACs defeat. We thank each of you for helping us slay the giant. Because of you, the good guys won round one. While we know they will be back, and in fact are already plotting their new narrative, we also know many more Americans are now on guard and will not be fooled.
One last special thanks we reserve for our donors. It is because of our member’s support that we were positioned to pick up the first notice of NACs, track its progress, dive deep into the agenda, and explain it in a way that people could easily understand what was at stake. You made it possible for us to get this into the hands of our courageous leaders across this great nation who were willing to take on the fight.
NACs stopped here.
Below are some of the great articles that have been published since NACs were defeated. Take the time to read these and remind yourself of what you helped accomplish.
