Most people have never heard about the Department of Defense’s (DOD) “Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI).”
But the Biden administration used this program to facilitate the purchase of conservation easements adjacent to military bases using nonprofit organizations with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the pretense of conservation.
Another one of the key programs under the REPI is the Sentinel Landscape Partnership. The Biden Administration approved five new Sentinel projects in 2024, including the Eastern New Mexico Sentinel Landscape, and the Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape in Utah.
In a press release on Thursday, April 17th, Chairman Comer announced the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating “the regulatory costs, bad policies, and veiled special interests that defined the Biden Administration.” Especially the use of nonprofits and their ties to the CCP.
One of those “veiled special interests” being investigated by the Committee is The Nature Conservancy (TNC), who Comer says has ties to the CCP.
Conservation easements purchased around military bases by nonprofit organizations like TNC create “buffer zones” or “buffer projects.” These buffer projects place the bases at “great risk” by giving the CCP access to the military through breaches of their installations. And there is precedence to this happening around the nation causing great concern to the Department of Defense.
Chairman James Comer (R-KY) simultaneously sent a letter to DOD’s Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting a “staff-level briefing on security risks and mitigation for REPI partnerships.” Comer’s committee has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
The letter and press release explain how The Nature Conservancy, a REPI partner in 34 buffer projects, has ties to the CCP. These buffer projects are around military installations, including major bases like Fort Knox and Camp Pendleton.
Robert Schmad, an investigative reporter for the Washington Examiner reported that TNC, “a U.S.-based environmental nonprofit organization, maintains a Chinese branch where former members of the Chinese government and current affiliates of the CCP hold senior leadership positions.”
Schmad wrote that the National Counterintelligence and Security Center cautioned that the CCP has legal grounds for “accessing and controlling data held by U.S. firms in China” and that “those same laws may also compel locally employed People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationals of U.S. firms to assist in PRC intelligence efforts.”
To make matters worse for TNC, the Committee also found that “employees of The Nature Conservancy’s China Program have held positions within the CCP, including roles at the Chinese People’s Political Consultive Conference, the United Front Working Department, China’s State Economic and Trade Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. In addition, these same employees have contributed articles to the state-run publication People’s Daily.”
This appears to be another Biden scandal that includes The Nature Conservancy, the largest Non-Governmental Organization in the world that has been a huge player in Biden’s 30×30 land grab scheme.
