Posted on 06/10/2012 7:45:27 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Navy’s green fleet runs into fiscal storm
Demo still on for next month, includes San Diego ship
Republicans in Congress are blocking the Navy’s march toward a future in which jets and ships run on biofuels, saying the “green” most in question is whether the United States has the money, with a shrinking military budget, to invest in a pricey fuel experiment.
The Navy will demonstrate its “great green fleet” concept next month, a toe in the water toward easing the country away from dependence on unfriendly foreign oil. But opposition in Congress could push the effort onto the rocks after that.
Both houses of Congress last month put language in the 2013 defense bill that would block the Pentagon from buying biofuels if they cost more than traditional petroleum.
The vote split mostly along party lines, with Republicans, including San Diego County Rep. Duncan Hunter, saying that proposed massive cuts to defense spending leave no room for anything but essentials.
“We’ll need to learn to do much more with much less. Experimenting with biofuels at such a significant cost to taxpayers will not put the military on better footing or increase effectiveness, next to other investments that are much higher on the priority list,” said Joe Kasper, Hunter’s spokesman.
The Navy, which sees its green initiative as a strategic move away from reliance on expensive Persian Gulf oil, spent $13.7 million on fuel made from used cooking oil and algae, blended with petroleum, for its upcoming green fleet voyage on July 18 and 19.
It was the biggest alternative fuel purchase ever for the U.S. government — 200,000 gallons of jet fuel and 700,000 gallons of ship diesel.
But it might also be the most expensive, costing nearly four times as much as traditional petroleum.
(Excerpt) Read more at utsandiego.com ...
... The cost of the biofuels calculated out at $15.25 a gallon in the November 2011 purchase, said Thomas Hicks, the Navy’s deputy assistant secretary for energy.
Regular marine diesel and jet fuel purchased by the Pentagon around the same time cost just less than $4 a gallon, according to the Defense Logistics Agency’s energy division.
There is absolutely no reason to use biofuels at this point in time. There may never be.
More libtard feel-good policies run amok.
The budget is tight lets run the fleet on unicorn flatulence its only a trillion a gallon.
So the obvious solution... artificially raise the price of fossil fuels to higher than the cost of this bio-nuts crap (and maybe throw even more government subsidies at the bio-crap).
Ping.
Add this to the list of things for a new President to do day 1
- Fire anyone at State involved in Law of Sea Treaty
- Fire anyone at State involved in promoting “gay pride” events at overseas embassies
- Fire anyone at D.O.D. involved in promoting the use of algae fuels, beyond R&D.
It may cost even more when you consider that the energy output per kilogram is probably a lot less with a biofuel. What is the cost for the same amount of energy supplied via gasoline for instance?
Which reminds me, did anyone catch the gushing Leon Panneta story on 60 Minutes tonight? He's the best Defense Secretary ever!
They should use this overpriced goo in his Government issued Private Jet and make him pay for it personally.
It’s a small price to pay for saving the earth.
Ships that don’t require speed can revert back to sail power.
Actually..the cost is even more than what they paid. The delivery was $15 a gallon..it consisted of 50% conventional fuel at $4 a gallon and 50% biofuel..about $26 per gallon..blended at $15. They probably were selling the biofuel at a loss so it gets worse still.
Actually..the cost is even more than what they paid. The delivery was $15 a gallon..it consisted of 50% conventional fuel at $4 a gallon and 50% biofuel..about $26 per gallon..blended at $15. They probably were selling the biofuel at a loss so it gets worse still.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk_Hills_Oil_Field
Another genius move from Clinton...
These people are thinking with the thing they are sitting on.
Military says yes sir to the Obama appointees. We’ll try your idiotic liberal ideas.
Here's an idea - we close the EPA, jail the environmentalists (or send them to Europe) and drill for our own oil.
That will "easing the country away from dependence on unfriendly foreign oil" just as well.
Don’t give them any ideas.
Just wait until the next maintenance report is released revealing that the engines need to be completely replaced due to unusual wear given the use of the new, untested fuel.
Its not just the EPA, but the Department of Energy, and the Department of Agriculture that are co-conspirators pushing for biofuels. The push for biofuels from the USDA was seen as necessary to gain additional funding through increased “relevance” of agricultural research. Seems that there was a diminishing amount of useful scientific research that was coming out of the USDA ARS and biofuels research was one means of obtaining massive infusion of money in a (then) politically popular area. The problem now has become how to continue the charade once the poor energy conversion of biofuels became more widely known. Its not just algae, but grasses and other cellulosic feedstocks for ethanol production. The taxpayers are getting fleeced.
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