Biden Admin Funnels Another $1.6 Million to Beijing-Backed Green Energy Company Over Senate Objections

LanzaTech has raised $12 million in taxpayer funds after signing deal with China-run energy giant Sinopec Getty Images

Even though Republicans had warned the Biden administration, they sent another $1.6million to a Beijing green energy company. “impacts the national security of the United States.”

Thursday, President Joe Biden’s Energy Department Announcement The seven-figure award was given to LanzaTech, which is a carbon capture business that signed a partnership agreement with Sinopec Capital in April 2021. Sinopec Capital is the clean energy investment arm a Chinese state-owned oil company. This is not the first time the department has showered LanzaTech with taxpayer cash—the company received more than $10 million in grant payments in the months after it partnered with China, the Washington Free Beacon reported December

These payments alarm Senate Republicans. Wyoming’s John Barrasso asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to intervene in an a December letter To stop “making the same mistake of enriching China’s technological efforts at the expense of taxpayers.” “The awarding of these grants and loans,” Barrasso wrote, “directly impacts the national security of the United States.” Arkansas’s Tom Cotton is similar Implored The Biden administration must be stopped “handing millions of taxpayer dollars to a Chinese-backed company” Instead, encourage “American energy production and energy independence.”

Biden’s Energy Department ignored the warnings. Barrasso feels that LanzaTech’s support of the department is a good decision. “outrageous” Given the company’s “direct ties to communist China.”

“This isn’t about protecting the environment,” Barrasso spoke for the Free Beacon. “The White House is using its far-left climate policies as an excuse to send taxpayer money to help countries that hate us.”

Biden’s most recent LanzaTech grant may prompt more inquiries from congressional Republicans who are threatening to subpoena environmental groups Concerning ties with Russia and China “If there’s evidence the Chinese government is funding their actions, we have to go after them,” Bruce Westerman, House Natural Resources Chair (R. Ark.). December “I don’t care what kind of group they are.”

The Energy Department did no respond to our request for comment. It chose to channel millions of public funds to LanzaTech, despite LanzaTech’s federal financial disclosures. Notification “that the Chinese government may intervene or influence our operations at any time.” LanzaTech’s filings also recognize that the company’s partnership with Sinopec or other Chinese entities could result in significant economic benefits “complications” And “restrictions” Should the United States send