Veterans: Renewable Fuel Law a National Security Issue
by Carol Hunter (Des Moines Register) Three retired military officers made the case Wednesday that development and use of renewable fuels is a key component of national security. Specifically, the officers argued that Congress should leave in place the current Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires that increasing amounts of alternative fuels be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply.
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed lowering the amount of ethanol and biodiesel that must be blended.
“The RFS is a military issue,” said Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org, who served as a captain and major in Iraq. “Our message is simple: Don’t mess with the RFS.”
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One of the Navy’s main missions is keeping open shipping lanes for oil and other products, they said. And terrorists who kill U.S. troops are profiting off of oil.
In addition, climate change will increasingly threaten to destabilize nations around the world, said Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson, who directed logistics in Iraq under U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus.
At a practical level, maintaining the long supply chains needed to supply outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan led to thousands of casualties, they said.
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Anderson, a conservative politically, said ethanol isn’t a perfect fuel but called it a needed bridge in developing alternatives. READ MORE
