On Monday, the Biden regime informed lawmakers that it will be canceling contract negotiations with Chinese-linked energy technology firm Microvast, and will no longer be awarding them a $200 million grant.
Microvast Holdings is a Texas-based lithium battery company that the U.S. Energy Department had selected to receive a $200 million grant as part of Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Republican lawmakers began to criticize the DOE’s grant, claiming that Microvast was tied to the Chinese government.
Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) expressed concern over Microvast’s failure to mention its close ties to the CCP.
In a letter to Jennifer Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Lucas wrote that “nearly 80% of Microvast’s assets are in China and 61% of its revenue [in 2021] originated in China.”
“Microvast is a leading battery manufacturer in China and the main battery supplier for China’s new energy bus makers,” added Lucas. “The company was also recently added to a Securities and Exchange Commission watchlist of foreign companies that are not in compliance with the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. As such, Microvast faces delisting from U.S. exchanges for failing to comply with U.S. auditing requirements.”
According to a third-quarter financial disclosure filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, 69% of Microvast’s revenue was generated in China. The company also acknowledged in the filing that the Chinese government “exerts substantial influence over the manner in which [they] must conduct [their] business activities and may intervene, at any time and with no notice.”
Additionally, Yang Wu, Microvast’s CEO, chairman and founder, attended Southwest Petroleum University in Chengdu, China.
Despite defending the grant for months, DOE officials announced on Monday that Microvast will no longer be receiving the grant.
“As responsible stewards of American taxpayer dollars, the Department of Energy maintains a rigorous review process prior to the release of any awarded funds, and it is not uncommon for entities selected to participate in award negotiations under a DOE competitive funding opportunity to not ultimately receive an award,” a DOE spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. “The Department can confirm that it has elected to cancel negotiations and not to award Microvast funds from this competitive funding opportunity.”
The spokesperson did not specify what caused the DOE to cancel negotiations with Microvast.
In Michigan, residents are rallying against another company with CCP-ties.
In October 2022, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who lost a massive electric-vehicle plant expansion opportunity with Michigan-based Ford Motor Company, bragged that the CCP-tied company, Gotion, would be moving to Michigan and building a battery plant that would be funded by Michigan taxpayers to the tune of just under a BILLION dollars.
Lori Brock, the owner of Majestic Friesians Horse Farm in Big Rapids, has expressed concern over the environmental impacts that the battery plant will have. The plant, which will receive at least $750 million in taxpayer subsidies, will be built near her 150-acre horse farm, which has 20 horses.
The farm owner stated that she is against the Gotion plant because they lied about their ties to China, community support of the project, and hourly wages.
