Furthering a radical “green” agenda while empowering America’s enemies — all on the taxpayer dime. The Biden administration is showing that there’s apparently no limit to how low they can go.
The Energy Department of Joe Biden last week announced the awarding of $1.6 million to the Chinese-backed green energy company LanzaTech — which notably also has ties to top Democratic politicians.
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $118 million in funding for 17 projects to accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels for America’s transportation and manufacturing needs,” the department boasted in a Thursday press release.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the recipient of almost $2 million of these funds, carbon-capture company LanzaTech, signed a partnership in 2021 with Sinopec Capital, which is the clean energy-focused subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned oil conglomerate.
In addition to the Sinopec connection, LanzaTech has raised millions of dollars from CITIC Capital, a subsidiary of the biggest state-run conglomerate in China. Sitting on LanzaTech’s board of directors is Bo Ren, who worked at CITIC’s brokerage outfit.
The funded projects will ostensibly “drive the domestic production of biofuels and bioproducts by advancing biorefinery development, from pre-pilot to demonstration,” and support “President Biden’s goals to deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.”
This is far from the first round of public funding LanzaTech has raked in. Prior to this most recent grant, the firm had received $10 million since partnering with China.
That prior funding had caught the attention of Senate Republicans, including John Barrasso (Wyo.), who in a December letter called upon Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to cease “making the same mistake of enriching China’s technological efforts at the expense of taxpayers.”
In his letter, Barrasso quoted LanzaTech’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, which admit that “[LanzaTech’s] business operations in China include a joint venture, several strategic investors located in China, including Sinopec, and a core team of technical, business and administrative professionals at a LanzaTech office in Shanghai.”
Furthermore, in their filings the firm acknowledges that they “are subject to the risk that the Chinese government may intervene or influence our operations at any time.”
“The Department cannot afford to keep making the same mistake of enriching China’s technological efforts at the expense of taxpayers,” Barrasso wrote to Granholm. “It is imperative you conduct this review as the awarding of these grants and loans directly impacts the national security of the United States.”
The senator also told the Free Beacon that “This isn’t about protecting the environment. The White House is using its far-left climate policies as an excuse to send taxpayer money to help countries that hate us.”
The outlet reported:
Biden’s latest LanzaTech grant could prompt additional inquiries from congressional Republicans, who are threatening to subpoena environmental groups over ties to China and Russia. “If there’s evidence the Chinese government is funding their actions, we have to go after them,” House Natural Resources chair Bruce Westerman (R., Ark.) said in December. “I don’t care what kind of group they are.”
The Energy Department told the Free Beacon that “like Ranking Member Barrasso,” it “is interested in ensuring investments maximize benefits for the nation.” Still, the department has chosen to funnel millions in public funds to LanzaTech despite the company’s federal financial disclosures, which note “that the Chinese government may intervene or influence our operations at any time.” LanzaTech’s filings also acknowledge that the company’s partnerships with Sinopec and other Chinese entities could bring “complications” and “restrictions” should the United States bring “sanctions on certain Chinese individuals.”
LanzaTech has ties to several top Democrats, including Barack Obama. For example, the company has received significant money from billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who in 2008 led the Indian policy team of Obama and hosted a number of elite fundraisers for the 44th president. And Jim Messina, who served as Obama’s deputy chief of staff and campaign manager, was placed on LanzaTech’s board in 2013.
The New American has extensively reported on the mounting list of money scandals rocking the Biden administration.
In another case of conflicting interests and personal financial agendas that affect U.S. energy policy, Nada Wolff Culver, a prominent official within Biden’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), likely violated federal law by owning $15,000 in bonds with energy giant ConocoPhillips at the time that she suspended three Trump-era oil drilling leases while serving as the bureau’s acting director.
The suspension of the drilling leases benefited ConocoPhillips by getting its competitors out of the region. Notably, Culver’s bond experienced a 1.5 percent market-rate increase due to her decision.
And while China continues to solidify its control over American government policy thanks to politicians like Biden, Beijing is simultaneously expanding its global influence and making itself invulnerable to U.S. actions through partnerships with major powers like Russia.
As seen in a Wall Street Journal report, Moscow ramped up its importation from China of technologies key to the war in Ukraine. Per data coming from the D.C.-based Free Russia Foundation, China’s purchase of Russian goods more than made up for the trade Moscow lost due to Western sanctions — essentially rendering those sanctions ineffectual.
America’s globalist foreign policy establishment, with its incessant cries of “Russia! Russia! Russia!”, has only pushed Moscow and China closer together, cementing the rise of a new alternative world alliance and economic order that is rapidly reducing the United States to irrelevance.
