Energy & Environment

If one wants to fully appreciate the stranglehold the right wing has on the Republican Congressional agenda and its attendant dangers, one need look no further than the bill the House plans to consider next week, which would shut down the entire regulatory system.

Senator James Inhofe’s recent protest in these pages against the U.S. military’s field-proven use of secure, advanced biofuels overlooks both the bipartisan origins of the program and the black-and-white realities of powering the world’s largest fuel consumer in an age of unstable petroleum prices.
 
Today the military is dependent on a single source of fuel for most of their operations, a vulnerability for our troops and our nation. Advanced biofuels promise to be a dependable, affordable source of fuel for our military – a reality first recognized in the previous administration, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld created a task force to explore options for reducing the military’s dependence on fossil fuels.
 
Since 2010, nine different U.S. Navy vessels and aircraft have been successfully powered by advanced, domestic biofuels, including the super-sonic F/A-18 “Green Hornet,” the MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, the AV-8B Harrier, the Fire Scout unmanned vehicle, the Riverine Command Boat (RCB-X) and the frigate USS Ford. The “Green Fleet” exercise is the next step in the military’s ongoing commitment to advanced fuels.
 
The cost of our military’s dependence on fossil fuels should not be underestimated. In FY 2011 alone, the Department of Defense saw a $3 billion budget shortfall because of rising fuel prices. Developing speculative domestic sources of fossil fuels – many of which are years from realization and themselves quite expensive – is not a solution. Oil is priced on a world market, and even if we increase domestic production or only import oil from friendly countries, we cannot control its price. Meanwhile, over the past few years producers have reduced the cost of advanced biofuels used for military testing by more than 80 percent. That trend will only continue.
 
Our military has also known that innovation is critical to remaining the most effective fighting force in the world. Technology like the microchip and night vision were created through military investments in innovation. If Congress had prevented the Navy from investing in navigational aids more expensive than a compass, we never would have had GPS. Advanced biofuels could be the next big breakthrough, but not if Congress prevents the military from investing in these programs.
 
Members of Congress should trust our military leaders when they say that advanced biofuels could be a significant contribution to their operational energy security.
 
Breen is the vice president of the Truman National Security Project and a surrogate for the clean energy campaign, Operation Free. As a Captain in the U.S. Army, he served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earlier this month representatives and senators were back in their home states celebrating Independence Day. 

By all accounts, future gasoline prices should rise as oils become heavier and harder to handle. 

America is in the middle of an energy revolution — but to the consternation of many, it’s not the one they dreamed about. 

As the Department of Defense (DoD) faces drastic budget cuts, the last thing the military needs is to be forced by President Obama to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on an expensive green energy agenda.

Forests across the Western United States, including those in my home state of Colorado, are facing a state of emergency.
 
A bark beetle outbreak has consumed 41.7 million acres of forests across this country. While the outbreak has affected state and private lands, the damage is oftentimes most heavily concentrated in federal lands where a lack of responsible forest management has allowed the epidemic to spread essentially unrestrained. Of the 6.6 million acres infested in Colorado, over 4 million are on federal forest lands.

As representatives of two leading footwear brands, we are accustomed to walking, hiking, and running for fun. But this week, we are pounding the pavement in Washington, D.C. to express our commitment to America’s great outdoors.
 
We are employees of vibrant outdoor companies that depend on protected wild lands and rivers. Protected public lands are the infrastructure for the outdoor recreation economy. Our jobs and those of our co-workers depend on those protected wild places. Every year, our customers hike in Wilderness areas and boat protected rivers and lakes. In doing so, they spur local economies and support jobs like ours.

In this so-called “jobless” recovery, aptly labeled the Great Recession, an estimated 20 million American workers are unemployed or underemployed. One out of every two college students cannot find work in their chosen fields. Competition for well-paying jobs is likely to become even tougher when thousands of men and women in uniform return home from Afghanistan and look for ways to support their families.

Although many U.S. industries have been reluctant to hire new workers due to political and economic uncertainty, the oil and natural gas industry is booming worldwide. Jobs are available on offshore rigs, at service companies that support energy production activities, and onshore where technologies are unlocking energy supplies from impermeable rock deep underground.

For the rest of this week over 100 global leaders, and more countries, converge on Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. As of Tuesday a negotiated text was released which so far is receiving dismal reviews as watered down and lacking in any concrete commitments or timetables for outcomes. If the meeting is considered a failure, or results only in a laundry list of promises, who is to blame? Can anything be done to salvage this global opportunity?