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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into allegations that key power stations across Texas are using battery systems that could provide the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a backdoor into the state’s energy grid.
The probe centers on large-scale battery systems manufactured by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL), a Chinese-headquartered company. Direct or remote access by Chinese-controlled firms to critical infrastructure is prohibited under the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act.
National security expert Ed Turzanski says this is part of a growing problem. “More and more components are being produced overseas,” he explained, “and anything that has to do with batteries—we’re going to have this issue.”
He described it as one of the many unintended consequences of economic globalization, which has “led to steep declines in American manufacturing and, now, with nefarious players like the Chinese, created serious vulnerabilities.”
Turzanski noted that the original pitch for a fully globalized economy was that it would “solve all our problems,” but the reality has instead delivered widespread economic and national-security risks.