From The Colorado Independent:
Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall Wednesday unveiled an updated version of the Energy Security Act he worked with Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to introduce last year. The bill aims to boost increasing military efforts to move away from dependence on fossil fuels.
“Osama bin Laden reportedly called our fuel convoys the military’s ‘umbilical cord.’ We risk the lives of thousands of troops each year because of our dependence on fossil fuel in theater and at home,” Udall said. “We owe it to our troops and the American people to find ways to use energy smarter and more efficiently.”…
…The Pentagon move toward renewable energy has been characterized in the last half-decade by an urgency that doesn’t tolerate usual U.S. energy politics and congressional dithering.
With an annual budget in the hundreds of billions, the military makes its own markets for all kinds of products and services, and energy is no different. Military leaders have simply decided they need to use renewables and have begun ordering technology, circumventing fraught Capitol Hill stand-offs on climate change and turf battles over whether taxpayers should be subsidizing this or that energy-industry sector.
The Independent story includes a link to a piece from The New York Times last fall, with some pretty convincing arguments:
“There are a lot of profound reasons for doing this, but for us at the core it’s practical,” said Ray Mabus, the Navy secretary and a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who has said he wants 50 percent of the power for the Navy and Marines to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. That figure includes energy for bases as well as fuel for cars and ships.
“Fossil fuel is the No. 1 thing we import to Afghanistan,” Mr. Mabus said, “and guarding that fuel is keeping the troops from doing what they were sent there to do, to fight or engage local people.”
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The vote on swipe fees, now this. He’s doing a good job.
Is the Marine base in Hawaii is using wave energy. My mom has been key in getting that in place (she’s a Republican you know).
But your mom couldn’t get elected on the Republican ticket in any other state in the union at this point, with the possible exception of some parts of New York City (see: Bloomberg).
that Bloomberg is really a Democrat. He switched parties in 2001 when he didn’t win the Democratic primary and discovered the Republicans weren’t going to run a candidate of their own for mayor.
The number of districts where a moderate to liberal person can run on the Republican ticket is virtually nil, plus the state of Hawaii and the city of New York.
And I say this to make a point to David, who seems to be liking on the Republicans a lot lately, just to be agreeable: almost none of them are like your Mom, David. They used to be, but there are damned few remaining, and most of those are incumbents who will be replaced by either a Democrat or a right-winger when they leave office.