ASP’s Holland Referenced in Biofuels Digest
A recent Biofuels Digest article entitled “Is the U.S. Military Fighting Straw Men?” referenced ASP’s Andrew Holland’s report on biofuels and the military. The author of the article, Brent Erickson, discusses how the military’s reliance on petroleum is becoming too expensive, and that it is now time for the U.S. military to begin investing in alternative sources of energy. He notes that the U.S. Navy has done a good job in promoting the use of biofuels, citing the Rim of the Pacific exercise of last summer. He also says that rising gasoline prices affect the military as much as they affect U.S. households. This touches on a lot of what Andrew Holland wrote in “Advanced Biofuels and National Security.” From the Biofuels Digest article:
Every branch of the military has begun a program to certify the use of drop in biofuels for its existing equipment. Biotechnology is enabling the production of fuel molecules that match the performance of petroleum fuels, and the Navy’s Rim of the Pacific warfare exercises last summer were the largest demonstration that the potential for these fuels is real. Advanced biofuels are well worth pursuing to achieve the military’s operational energy security strategy.
When oil companies attack the RFS they unwittingly attack America. When critics attack the Navy for trying to develop advanced biofuel for defense applications they undermine our long term national security. And as Congress considers the budget, it should bear in mind that the U.S. spends $83 billion annually deploying our military to defend the Persian Gulf’s oil. Following the military’s lead in ending our nation’s overreliance on foreign oil is a responsible fiscal course that will pay long term dividends for our collective security.
For the Biofuels Digest article, click here.
For ASP’s report “Advanced Biofuels and National Security,” click here.
