Re: DOE Touts $200M Grant to Lithium Battery Company as Boon to American-Made Clean Energy. The Company Operates Primarily From China.

[The Biden Disaster]

In article <t1vdu8$39o7i$3...@news.freedyn.de>
<governo...@gmail.com> wrote:>
> Democrats stab Americans in the back again.
>

Microvast also under scrutiny for shielding its books from auditors

President Joe Biden's Department of Energy is touting a grant to a
lithium battery company as a move that would help herald the shift
to green energy and ensure the United States is cultivating domestic
sources of energy. It did not say, however, that the Texas company
receiving the grant operates primarily from China and is under
scrutiny from American financial regulators.

The DOE announced in October that it would give the $200 million
award to Microvast Holdings to build a battery separator facility in
Tennessee, using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. At
the time, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the grant would
"supercharge the private sector to ensure our clean energy future is
American-made."

While the DOE described Microvast as a "majority U.S.-owned company,
traded on NASDAQ" and "headquartered in Stafford, Texas," financial
records show the company operates primarily out of China. Microvast
itself says the Chinese government "exerts substantial influence
over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and
may intervene, at any time and with no notice." The company was also
recently added to a Securities and Exchange Commission watchlist of
Chinese companies that are on track to be delisted from NASDAQ for
failing to comply with U.S. auditing requirements.

The DOE award demonstrates the challenges posed by the green energy
transition sought by Democrats and the Biden administration and
raises questions about the vaunted $1.2 billion Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law funding. That bill was meant to boost U.S.
battery companies and strengthen the domestic clean energy supply
chain, which has been highly dependent on China. The grant is also
drawing calls for additional oversight from Congress. The
infrastructure law, as written by lawmakers, states that the DOE
should avoid funding projects that "use battery material supplied by
or originating from a foreign entity of concern," which includes
companies "subject to the jurisdiction or direction" of China.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) told the Washington Free Beacon that the
Biden administration "has a lot of explaining to do."

"Giving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to a company whose
operations are based in China that refuses to comply with American
securities rules is crazy," said Rubio. "What's more, any new
technology developed in this partnership is almost certainly going
to benefit China given Microvast's operations there. It is just
another example of the Biden administration not understanding the
threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party."

Former DOE officials said the funding was highly concerning and is
likely to set off alarms with legislators.

"The Biden appointees knew from the outset that because of China's
aggressiveness in infiltrating U.S. energy and high-tech companies
they were going to need to be extra vigilant about where these
[infrastructure] funds went," one former DOE official told the Free
Beacon. "A simple Google search shows enough of a relationship
between China and the shell company they're using to access U.S.
taxpayer funds to raise questions."

"Now Congress, [the Government Accountability Office], or someone
needs to be asking what information did the applicant provide about
their relationship with China, how far up does that relationship
go," the official said.

The DOE did not respond to a request for comment.

In its 2021 annual SEC report, Microvast describes itself as a
"holding company" that conducts its business "principally through
our subsidiary in China."

"A substantial portion of our operations and manufacturing and most
of our current customers are in the [People's Republic of China],"
said Microvast, adding that it has received subsidies from the
Chinese government and that most of its customers are associated
with "state-owned companies in the PRC."

In May, the SEC added Microvast to a list of Chinese companies that
aren't in compliance with U.S. auditing requirements under the
Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. The law, which went into
effect last spring, is designed to prevent Chinese companies listed
on the U.S. stock exchanges from using non-approved China-based
auditors to obscure their finances.

Companies that remain on the list for three consecutive years will
be delisted from NASDAQ. They are also required to disclose whether
they have any directors who are members of the Chinese Communist
Party, or CCP ownership.

Microvast CEO Yang Wu is a U.S. citizen, according to Microvast
spokeswoman Sarah Alexander. Another Microvast director, Arthur
Wong, a Hong Kong citizen based in Beijing, is the chairman of the
audit committee at Daqo New Energy Corporation, whose subsidiary was
sanctioned by the Biden administration last year for its connections
to slave labor in Xinjiang.

Alexander said none of Microvast's directors, including Wu, are
members of the CCP. She said the business primarily operates out of
Huzhou, China, but has been expanding its manufacturing and research
facilities to Germany and the United States.

Alexander said the company's inclusion on SEC's non-compliance list
could also change due to "recent developments on the [Holding
Foreign Companies Accountable Act], including an agreement between
the U.S. and Chinese governments to allow for" full inspections. SEC
officials have reportedly been trying to negotiate an agreement with
Beijing as of September.


https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/doe-touts-200m-grant-
to-lithium-battery-company-as-boon-to-american-made-clean-energy-
the-company-operates-primarily-from-china/

[governo...@gmail.com]

On Wed, 7 Dec 2022 08:39:23 +0000, The Biden Disaster wrote:
><governo...@gmail.com> wrote:>
>> Democrats stab Americans in the back again.
>Microvast also under scrutiny for shielding its books from auditors
>
>President Joe Biden's Department of Energy is touting a grant to a
>lithium battery company as a move that would help herald the shift
>to green energy and ensure the United States is cultivating domestic
>sources of energy. It did not say, however, that the Texas company
>receiving the grant operates primarily from China and is under
>scrutiny from American financial regulators.

The cool thing about letting a foreign power invest in our country
buying up real estate and building facilities is that if they go to
war with us, all their stuff suddenly becomes OURS!

It also puts pressure on Russia and gains Chinese cooperation.
Politics makes strange bedfellows. Besides, China currently leads in
battery making and we need to secure that technological experience.

>Former DOE officials said the funding was highly concerning and is
>likely to set off alarms with legislators.

Good. A closer examination of where two hundred mil is going is
always a good idea.

>"The Biden appointees knew from the outset that because of China's
>aggressiveness in infiltrating U.S. energy and high-tech companies
>they were going to need to be extra vigilant about where these
>[infrastructure] funds went," one former DOE official told the Free
>Beacon. "A simple Google search shows enough of a relationship
>between China and the shell company they're using to access U.S.
>taxpayer funds to raise questions."

Good. Ask them in the House. You don't own the Senate anymore.

Swill
--
But it was Trump who hand-picked Walker for the Georgia Senate run,
just as he had chosen GOP nominees in other high-profile contests
this year, and the result was one more blemish on Trump’s record and
a fitting coda to his demoralizing fall from power." -
<https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/06/trump-loses-again-georgia-runoff-results-00072685>