A progressive watchdog group has renewed its call for the IRS to investigate whether a Texas-based property rights organization is violating its tax-exempt nonprofit status as it campaigns against the Biden administrations goal of conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030, known informally as 30x30.

Accountable.US filed an initial complaint with the IRS last year, accusing the fringe, right-wing American Stewards of Liberty of violating its 501(c)(3) status by lobbying against 30x30 at the federal, state and local levels. This week, Accountable amended its complaint with new evidence, including internal communications that HuffPost obtained via a public records request. Accountable argues that the new evidence further proves American Stewards is working to influence legislation in violation of tax code rules.

As HuffPost revealed last month, Margaret Byfield, the executive director of American Stewards of Liberty, developed a cozy relationship inside Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts office, and worked behind the scenes to guide the Republican governors response to 30x30. Byfield advised Ricketts on the conservation initiative and other environmental policy issues, even playing a direct role in crafting an executive order, signed by the governor in late June, that aimed to prevent President Joe Biden from implementing his 30x30 plan in Nebraska.

In a supplemental letter sent to the IRS on Thursday, Accountable.US noted that American Stewards has expanded its federal lobbying efforts and is publicly backing a pair of congressional bills, dubbed the 30x30 Termination Act, that seek to block Bidens 30x30 pledge. Two of the bills main sponsors, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), were keynote speakers at American Stewards STOP 30x30 Summit in Lincoln, Nebraska, last month.

The letter also cites HuffPosts recent reporting on Byfields influence within Ricketts office, and how she requested and apparently secured a statement from the governor in support of Boeberts anti-30x30 bill.

By its own admission, a significant portion of American Stewards activities involve attempts to influence legislation, and its primary objective can only be achieved through advocating for or against legislation, Jordan Schreiber, energy and environment director at Accountable.US, said in a statement. Such an approach violates their nonprofit tax status.

American Stewards has advanced sweeping, evidence-free claims that the 30x30 initiative is a federal land grab in disguise. Its rhetoric is now being parroted by a growing number of Republican lawmakers and right-wing organizations. And the disinformation-rich campaign has succeeded in drumming up fear in rural communities about a looming federal takeover of private property rights.

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist and ethics expert at the nonprofit consumer group Public Citizen, agrees that American Stewards activities run afoul of its tax-exempt status. He noted that in its newsletter, American Stewards has called on its audience to contact their elected representatives to urge them to back specific legislation.