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- Utah lawmakers introduced a bill to block control of public lands by natural asset companies.
- The bill aims to prevent companies from making agreements affecting Utah's land and resources.
- Lawmakers argue these companies threaten Utah's agriculture, energy and rural economies.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis were joined by Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy in sponsoring the Natural Asset Company Prohibition Act, Tuesday.
If passed, the act would prohibit any Natural Asset Company or similar organization from "making agreements affecting land, water or natural resources in Utah."
Natural asset companies, structured as corporate entities, "assign financial value to ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, water purification, biodiversity preservation, and soil health," a press release from the lawmakers said.
Bill sponsor Curtis said, "Wall Street shouldn't be allowed to dictate what happens on Utah lands just to satisfy ESG mandates."
Public land, he continued, supports ranchers, energy production, conservation, families and more, and the bill "ensures that investors from New York or foreign capitals don't get to lock up Utah lands and cut off access to the people who depend on them."
What exactly are natural asset companies?
The Intrinsic Exchange Group and the New York Stock Exchange jointly proposed natural asset companies in September, 2021, to act as an investment vehicle by tapping into the Green industry.
Companies could buy the rights to natural assets, including on public lands, and then try to attract private investment that would keep the land as-is.
The Land Trust Alliance, an environmental group, describes these sort of natural assets as "carbon credits, biodiversity credits, water or soil conservation, forest preservation and associated sustainable economic activities such as eco-tourism." Excluded from natural assets are "mining, unsustainable agriculture and timber harvest that erodes important environmental qualities."
However, after being met by significant opposition, the New York Stock Exchange withdrew its application to the Securities Exchange Commission in January 2024 to establish natural asset companies as a viable trading asset.
Why a federal ban on natural asset companies?
Natural asset companies can pose a threat to economies that heavily rely on agriculture, energy and timber, since they can restrict the productive uses of the land for the sake of eco-preservation, the sponsors of the bill said.
Lee, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said natural asset companies "pose a direct threat" to Utah's energy, agriculture and recreation industries by "enabling private and foreign investors to seize control of the very land that our communities depend on."
Similarly, Kennedy said natural asset companies "threaten Utah's rural economy by allowing private interests to lock away farmland and natural resources."
Kennedy currently serves on the House Natural Resources Committee. He said the legislation "will help to protect Utah's land, economy, and rural communities from such overreach."
