(RepublicanDaily.org) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received a letter from several state officials asking that the agency rethink and ultimately reject a proposal that would allow private entities and companies from taking ownership of public lands.
The proposal, which is still being deliberated, aims to allow American lands and ecosystem services to be traded on the NYSE, or the New York Stock Exchange. The lands would be called “Natural Asset Companies” (NAC), and would essentially become open to being owned by private companies.
Thirty state officials, including auditors, commissioners, treasurers, and comptrollers, said that there is a “fatal flaw” in the proposal. They claim that it is “folly” to assign “arbitrary economic value on something that has no economic value.” They further explain that the lands are not “backed” by any economic activity, but are managed and expanded “for the benefit of the planet.”
The arguments by the state officials – who hail from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming – are detailed in a letter obtained by news outlet Daily Caller. The officials say that the “value of the good provided by nature is undeniable, but unquantifiable,” and say that it is a “terribly dangerous idea” to take “what is thought of as a ‘public good,’ like air, and make it a private commodity from which people can profit at the expense of others.”
The officials also say that there are inherent national security concerns surrounding the decision to let private entities own public land. By allowing NACs to be listed on the NYSE, the SEC would effectively “provide unique instruments for those looking to harm our country.” They further explain that it is “plausible” for “foreign adversaries look to NAC investment as a way to hamper our (America’s) wellbeing.”
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