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Navy Biofuel Deal is 'Cost Prohibitive,' 'Another Solyndra,’ Critics Say
CNSNews ^ | December 23, 2011 | Fred Lucas

Posted on 12/23/2011 10:22:40 AM PST by jazusamo

Navy jet

Navy jet takes off from U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. (U.S. Navy photo)

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s deal to buy 450,000 gallons of biofuel for Navy jets comes at a cost of up to nine times higher than regular fuel, a spokesman for Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said, coming at a time when the U.S. military is already facing deep budget cuts.

Inhofe, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and former chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has supported biofuel projects in the past, but has problems with a program the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of the Navy announced earlier this month – one that would pay $26 per gallon for a special biofuel for Navy jets; $16 per gallon when mixed with regular jet fuel.

“Sen. Inhofe’s concern in this particular case as it deals with the Department of Defense is that the alternative is cost prohibitive,” Inhofe spokesman Jared Young told CNSNews.com. “Of late, our nation’s military has had to endure $500 billion in budget cuts, and if the sequestration happens as a result of the super committee’s failure to reach a deal, it would mean an additional $500 billion in cuts to our nation’s military.”

The Navy entered the contract with Louisiana-based Dynamic Fuels for $12 million for aviation fuel. Dynamic Fuels is a partnership of three firms, Solazyme, Syntroleum and Tyson Foods.

Solazyme previously received $21.7 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus, to build a “biorefinery.” T.J. Glauthier is listed on the Solazyme website as a strategic advisor for the company. Glauthier served on President Obama’s White House transition team, where he focused on energy issues for the recovery act, according to the Solazyme website.

“The Department of Defense should not purchase alternative fuels that are priced 9 time higher than conventional fuels --$26.75 per gallon to approximately $2.85 per gallon -- because those extra costs will further eat away at other necessary budget items such as operations, maintenance, training, and modernization,” Young continued in a written statement. “In addition, the alternative fuel is less available on the front lines, making its use more restrictive.”

Another energy analyst said it could turn into another fiscal boondoggle, similar to the $535 million Energy Department loan to the solar panel firm Solyndra, a company that went bankrupt before being raided by the FBI.

“It’s another Solyndra situation in that they’re trying to keep some of these businesses afloat when the economics just don’t make sense right now. Give them a few million and they will be able to continue to exist,” Dan Simmons, director of state and regulatory affairs at the Institute for Energy Research, a free-market energy think tank, told CNSNews.com. “They don’t meet the market test. Unless they have radical changes in technology, they’re not going to meet it anytime soon.”

On Dec. 5, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced that the Defense Logistics Agency had signed contracts to buy 450,000 gallons of biofuel – the largest purchase of biofuel by the federal government in history.

That is still a fraction of the 1.26 billion gallons of fuel the Navy fleet uses each year. But, according to the joint news release, “it accelerates the development and demonstration of a homegrown fuel source that can reduce America’s, and our military’s, dependence on foreign oil.”

“The Navy has always led the nation in transforming the way we use energy, not because it is popular, but because it makes us better war fighters,” Mabus said in a written statement. “This unprecedented fuel purchase demonstrates the Obama administration’s commitment to seeking energy security and energy independence by diversifying our energy supply.”

The biofuel, made from a blend of used cooking oil, will be mixed with aviation gas or marine diesel fuel for use in the “Green Strike Group” demonstration, according to the departments’ release. It is a “drop-in fuel,” which means that no modifications to the engines are required to burn the fuel. To prepare for the demonstration, the Navy completed testing of all aircraft, including F/A-18, blue Angels and the V-22 Osprey. It also tested the RCB-X, a command boat.

Mixing the biofuel with conventional fuel will help keep the price to less than what it could be, say $16 per gallon, but that’s still expensive, said Simmons of the Institute for Energy Research.

“This is one of the underreported aspects. It isn’t just $16 per gallon,” Simmons said. “It was actually $26 a gallon for the biofuel, but they mixed it with more moderately priced fuel. If you do the math that comes out to $1,000 a barrel for that fuel, which is just incredibly expensive.”

He cited the federal government’s own numbers that show the United States has 1.4 trillion barrels of oil waiting to be explored. That’s enough to last 200 years, he said. Thus, he argues, dependency on foreign oil is not the problem, rather it’s an unwillingness to open up more areas for drilling.

He added, “Right now gas prices are the highest ever at Christmas time, and at the same time we have the Navy out spending $26 a gallon for jet fuel, for jet fuel. Jet’s burn fuel like crazy. It’s a travesty.”

As part of his energy security goals, outlined in March 2011 in the “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future,” President Barack Obama ordered the departments of Agriculture, Energy and the Navy to advance “drop-in” biofuel substitutes for diesel and jet fuel.

“This is not work we can afford to put off for another day,” Ag Secretary Vilsack said in a written statement,

In August, the administration announced their intentions to spend $510 million during the next three years to buy advanced drop-in biofuel for military transportation. In lieu of congressional authorization to spend that much, the administration used existing authority for this initiative without congressional authorization. The purchase is part of the Obama administration’s “We Can’t Wait,” initiative, which involves bypassing Congress when possible.

“There’s no evidence that biofuels are going to be cost effective anytime soon. During the Bush administration, President Bush pushed for making a certain amount of biofuel (to be) used every year. Last year, there was not a drop of advanced biofuel that was mixed with transportation fuel,” Simmons said.

“The reason is that it’s just not economical, that’s the reality,” he added.. “This isn’t a Republican-Democrat thing. President Bush was pushing for it. What it is, is really a price thing. As much as we might think that biofuels may or may not be the future, right now they are not the present, and are wildly expensive.”

Inhofe supports “drop-in” fuels, so long as they are not cost prohibitive, his spokesman said.

“Earlier this year, he authored the Fuel Feedstock Freedom Act, which would in part create a new feedstock-neutral definition to encourage the use of items such as algae, while promoting the production of drop-in fuels, which are both engine friendly, achieve similar mileage per gallon as conventional fuel and can be readily blended and transported in the nation’s existing distribution infrastructure,” Young said.

The Navy did not provide comment for this story.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 201112; arra; biofuel; congress; corruption; glauthier; jetfuel; navair; obama; rcb; rcbx; riverine; separationofpowers; solazyme; stimulus; sweden; tjglauthier; usn; usnavy; wecantwait
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1 posted on 12/23/2011 10:22:44 AM PST by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo
Bold lettering mine.

It seems there's a never ending indication of corruption connected to Obama and the stimulus money he seems to use for paying off his supporters.

2 posted on 12/23/2011 10:26:17 AM PST by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Isn’t this the ethanol subsidy that Newt was paid to promote and he still supports it?


3 posted on 12/23/2011 10:28:56 AM PST by heiss (heartless and inhumane (radical rightwinger))
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To: jazusamo

Nothing short of tar and feathers for the whole of the Washington establishment will stop this madness.


4 posted on 12/23/2011 10:29:07 AM PST by bitterohiogunclinger (Proudly casting a heavy carbon footprint as I clean my guns ---)
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To: jazusamo

The way things are going in the United States, we can no doubt look forward to the day when America’s naval fighter jets are piloted by lesbians and powered by whale sh*t.


5 posted on 12/23/2011 10:35:13 AM PST by Jack Hammer
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

Lead.


6 posted on 12/23/2011 10:45:25 AM PST by unkus (Silence Is Consent)
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To: unkus

The high cost is indicative of the fact that it takes more energy to produce it than it generates. The blended price really is a lie to cover up the true cost.


7 posted on 12/23/2011 10:51:42 AM PST by Oldexpat
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To: unkus

The high cost is indicative of the fact that it takes more energy to produce it than it generates. The blended price really is a lie to cover up the true cost.


8 posted on 12/23/2011 10:51:56 AM PST by Oldexpat
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To: unkus

” Lead. “

Rope and trees have the advantage of being re-usable - not to mention, ‘eco-friendly’......


9 posted on 12/23/2011 10:56:01 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Uncle Ike
One need go no further then to see what Investors....errr Obambi bundlers are profiting from this Bio Fuel. How is this any different than insider trading?
10 posted on 12/23/2011 11:08:48 AM PST by DAC21
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To: jazusamo

In just the last few months the U.S. has become a net exporter of refined fuels, according to Energy Department statistics. Exports have been running ahead of imports by 467,000 barrels a day, with much of the fuel going to Latin America and South America.


11 posted on 12/23/2011 11:15:46 AM PST by ILS21R (Never give up.)
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To: jazusamo

Ah ,friend of Obama needing some cash


12 posted on 12/23/2011 11:26:57 AM PST by molson209
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To: ILS21R

This kind of thing is not only nuts but criminal when we have oil reserves that the RATS and enviro whack jobs won’t let us go after. Then there’s the Keystone pipeline that Obama and thugs are doing what they can to stop.


13 posted on 12/23/2011 11:27:51 AM PST by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Anyone hear the results of the Navy test of algae created bio-fuel for ships?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2808799/posts


14 posted on 12/23/2011 11:36:40 AM PST by Roccus (POLITICIAN...............a four letter word spelled with ten letters.)
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To: jazusamo
I am wondering what happens to the volatility when you blend the fuels together.

When the Air Force was using JP-4, you had to report receiving fuel from Air Force tankers when you went back to the ship. Evidently mixing of JP-4 and JP-5 (the Navy jet fuel) produced a much lower flashpoint. You weren't allowed to bring that airplane into the hangar bay with mixed fuel.

15 posted on 12/23/2011 12:40:36 PM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: USNBandit

Excellent point. I didn’t know that about the mixing of fuels.


16 posted on 12/23/2011 12:45:15 PM PST by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
I can't remember the exact numbers, but the Navy used its fuel because it had a higher flashpoint than the Air Force fuel. That makes sense, just like the Navy using a special coating on their bomb bodies for a higher cook off temperature.

When you mix the two fuels I think you got a flash point lower than either of the two fuels by themselves. That was interesting and scary at the same time.

17 posted on 12/23/2011 1:02:45 PM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: jazusamo

Fuel so good, only one afterburner can kicked in. The other one wouldn't ignite.

18 posted on 12/23/2011 1:36:42 PM PST by hattend (If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. - Cameron Connor)
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To: USNBandit

Yes, it makes perfect sense the Navy would use a higher flashpoint fuel with the planes being stored below the flight deck.

Thanks for the info.


19 posted on 12/23/2011 1:38:13 PM PST by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
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To: hattend

Good eye, it sure looks that way.


20 posted on 12/23/2011 1:39:49 PM PST by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
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