WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expressing concerns about a proposed rule giving Natural Asset Companies, including foreign investors, private management authority over federal land.

“We are concerned that corporate involvement in the stewardship and control of our federal lands would create unintended consequences,” the senators wrote. “The proposed rule could lead to a preservationist-only approach to federal land management instead of an ‘all-of-the-above’ working lands approach as intended by the creation of our federal land programs.”

“We are also alarmed by the SEC’s allowance under the proposed rule of foreign investment in these uniquely U.S. assets,” the senators continued. “At a time in which we are actively working to deter our adversaries, we should not be open our federal lands up to investment from the same adversaries.”

Read the full letter here.

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