Barrasso, Ernst Say Energy Watchdog to Probe Battery Technology Transfer to Chinese

A worker puts Vanadium in a kiln at Canadian based Strategic Mineral Company Largo Resources' Vanadium plant, near Maracas, in Bahia state, Brazil, on June 15, 2016. Vanadium is primarily used as an alloy to strengthen steel for construction, automobile and aerospace industries. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials may soon have to explain the government’s “illicit transfer of a $15 million, taxpayer-funded advanced battery technology” developed by a U.S. laboratory to a Chinese firm.

Teri Donaldson, the DOE’s inspector general, confirmed to Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in an Oct. 5 letter that “the apparent transfer of vanadium redox battery technology to China” authorized by DOE officials is being investigated.