Navy official says greenhouse gas rule is working

A senior Navy official said Friday that a controversial 2007 law aimed at blocking military purchases of high-carbon fuels has been effective.

A provision in a sweeping 2007 energy bill barred federal agencies from buying alternative fuels if their production and use produces more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil-based fuels.

Tom Hicks, the Navy’s deputy assistant secretary for energy who was appointed under President Obama, called it an effective law at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Friday.

“We are comfortable with 526,” he said, referring to Section 526 of 2007’s Energy Independence and Security Act. “It is an effective policy tool, it is having an effect on the market that I think is one in the right direction.”

The provision, authored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), was largely aimed at preventing the military from buying coal-derived fuels at a time when the coal industry and many Republicans were seeking to jumpstart a coal-to-liquids fuel industry in the U.S.

Hicks told the Energy and Power Subcommittee Friday that the Navy is not interested in coal-based transportation fuels, citing costs, greenhouse gases and other problems with coal-to-liquids, a decades-old technology.

He instead touted Navy programs to use fuel blended with next-generation biofuels.

But Section 526 – which some House and Senate Republicans are pushing to repeal – has also raised questions about whether it could affect fuel purchases from refineries that use oil from Canada’s oil sands projects.

“Is it practically possible for [the Defense Department] to determine which fuels are derived from Canadian oil sands, or which are not, in the general fuel distribution system?” asked Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), whose district is home to several refineries, during the hearing.

Hicks said he would prefer to answer that question later for the hearing record, and also said it would be better directed toward the agency that handles fuel purchases on behalf of the military branches.

The subcommittee met Friday to review a wide-ranging GOP energy bill. It includes repeal of Section 526 and would also require the military to build a coal-to-liquids plant.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) have also pushed to repeal the law over concerns it could hinder access to Canadian oil sands.

The oil sands — a growing source of U.S. supply — have long been in environmentalists’ crosshairs over their emissions and the impact of extraction projects on Canada’s boreal forests.