Overview
- House and Senate ranking Democrats Jared Huffman, Robert Garcia, and Martin Heinrich sent a letter to the Energy, Commerce, Interior, and Defense secretaries seeking documents and an in-person briefing.
- The request targets a series of equity purchases between July and January that lawmakers say were obscured after an executive order waived standard SEC reporting.
- The inquiry names Lithium Americas, developer of the Thacker Pass project, and MP Materials, operator of Mountain Pass, as key beneficiaries of the federal strategy.
- Reporting notes the Defense Department bought $400 million in MP Materials shares last year, and the Energy Department sought a 5% stake in Thacker Pass and Lithium Americas linked to a $2.2 billion loan.
- Lithium Americas defended the investments as critical to building a North American supply chain, while environmental advocates urged oversight and agencies did not provide comment.