Honorable Carl Levin
Chairman
Senate Armed Services Committee
Room 228
Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
RE: Declaration of War on Global Warming and Climate Change
Dear Chairman Levin,
The Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy (CfECE) hereby requests that you immediately introduce legislation declaring war on global warming and climate change under the War Powers Resolution of 1973. We want the U.S. Congress to authorize the President to fight the war because climate change poses a significant threat to the military and our national security. Energy infrastructure investment combined with military branch participation can become the next American industrial revolution. Economic growth, electricity reliability and smart grid construction can be accomplished by mid-century if we declare war on global warming.
We are calling for the creation of Defense Energy Reservations (DER) to host private sector energy generation and efficiency investments. We also call on the U.S. Congress to authorize DoD to establish a Defense National Energy Association (Danny Mae) that can issue Defense Backed Securities (DBS) to assist in fighting this climate change mitigation war. We need adequate emission free electricity generation in order to meet future economic growth and we need redundant energy systems for military preparedness.
We are also calling on The Federal Reserve to purchase Defense Backed Securities, similar to Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), in order to assure a return on investment for private sector renewables entrepreneurs. This will require DoD to establish a DBS service that should also be available to investors.
Congress should streamline the solicitation, bidding and construction of projects at military facilities. We envision this being a two-way process where contractors petition the Administration to post generic solicitations for energy retrofits and deployment of large-scale renewable generating systems, including wind, solar and geothermal projects.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 codifies the Department of Defense's voluntary goal of 25% of all energy to be derived from renewable technologies by 2025, but doesn't include any interim targets. And the pace of procurement for renewable technologies within the military is slowed by regulations and now the sequestration cuts. Some identified Federal Acquisition Regulations are time-consuming for vendors and are amplified when the DoD is the contracting officer. That can also be changed in the Executive Order.
The U.S. Department of Energy reports 51% of all generating capacity was at least 30 years old while 74% of all coal-fired capacity was 30 years or older at the end of 2012. New coal starts are greatly in decline. Renewal of our energy infrastructure is in order. Bold new ideas must lead the way and the EDR program can accomplish multiple missions.
The Department of Defense should be an instrument for change and should be the focus of a government-wide implementation of shared energy savings, power purchase agreements and leasing agreements. DoD manages more than several hundred thousand individual buildings and structures located at more than 5,000 different sites. It utilizes over 30 million acres of land.
This year DoD began development of non-essential tracts by issuing a $7 billion Multiple Award Task Order Contract to develop renewable and alternative energy power production. That is a small step relative to the potential.
We are collaborating with other appropriate government agencies, NGOs, current and former military officials and private sector companies to realize this potential for scaling up this public/private energy program partnership.
We look forward to the introduction of this legislation.
Sincerely yours,
Norris McDonald
Norris McDonald
President
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