5/14/10

This week Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) introduced the American Power Act to the Senate.  This climate and energy bill -which has taken into account the interests of a wide range of actors including moderate democrats, republicans and the business community -will reduce oil use, cut carbon pollution, invest in efficiency and clean energy technologies, and create jobs.  The American Power Act is an important step in the right direction to address the twin challenges of climate change and energy security.  It is essential to address these separate, but intertwined, challenges that affect the full realm of American security.  Yet conservatives blindly oppose the legislation, ignoring the threats to national security and power resulting from lack of action on addressing climate change and energy insecurity.  It is time for America to act and work to bolster American security.

Energy and climate change legislation introduced.  On Wednesday Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) introduced a climate and energy bill to the U.S. Senate.  Darrell Samuelson of Climate Wire sums up the bill: "Coming in at just under 1,000 pages, the bill includes 12 titles covering a cross section of the nation's top environmental and energy issues, from expanded nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration to revenue sharing for states that want to conduct more offshore oil and gas production. It also would set the first-ever mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions..."  The bill calls "for a 17 percent reduction in carbon pollution from 2005 levels by 2020; 42 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2050. Power plants will face the first restrictions, followed six years later by energy-intensive manufacturers. Transportation emissions will be regulated under the national carbon cap, though under a separate trading program. Producers and importers of refined petroleum products also will be kept out of the carbon market, but they still must purchase allowances at a fixed price from the allowance auction."

Dan Weiss, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, says that "The Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act jump-starts efforts to adopt comprehensive clean energy and climate polices..."  While the bill is not perfect, it is "designed to appeal to a broad range of senators, including moderate Midwestern Democrats and coastal Republicans," and it would "would truly reduce oil use, cut carbon pollution, invest in efficiency and clean energy technologies that create jobs, and protect consumers' wallets." [Washington Post, 5/13/10. Climate Wire, via NY Times, 5/12/10. John Kerry via Huffington Post, 5/12/10. Center for American Progress, 5/12/10]

Climate Change and Energy Security must be addressed - the twin threats present a challenge to all elements of national security: 

Military Security:

Energy:  A recent report from the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate and Sen. Jon Warner (Ret.) (R-VA) states that, "The department's reliance on fossil fuels compromises combat effectiveness by restricting mobility, flexibility and endurance on the battlefield. Fuel logistics have inhibited the progress of U.S. forces driving into Iraq, and such limitations continue to impede operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a single month of combat, June 2008, 44 vehicles and 220,000 gallons of fuel were lost in attacks or other events, DoD officials found." In addition, "The troop risks associated with fuel requirements have been tragically evident with the improvised explosive devices terrorists use to attack U.S. convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Manning, equipping and defending this ‘long tail' siphons money, combat power and still more energy. Worse yet, it puts our troops at risk." [Pew Report, 4/21/10]

Climate: A 2007 report from the Center for Naval Analysis explains how the changing climate can affect the military's bases and infrastructure: "During the Cold War, the U.S. established and maintained a large number of bases throughout the world. U.S. bases abroad are situated to provide a worldwide presence and maximize our ability to move aircraft and personnel. Climate change could compromise some of those bases. For example, the highest point of Diego Garcia, an atoll in the southern Indian Ocean that serves as a major logistics hub for U.S. and British forces in the Middle East, is only a few feet above sea level. As sea level rises, facilities there will be lost or will have to relocated. Although the consequences to military readiness are not insurmountable, the loss of some forward bases would require longer range lift and strike capabilities and would increase the military's energy needs.... Increased storm activity or sea level rise caused by future climate change could threaten or destroy essential base infrastructure. If key military bases are degraded, so, too, may be the readiness of our forces." [CNA, 2007]

Political Security

Energy: Sen. Kerry explains the international political ramifications to America's dependence on foreign oil: "we're sending billions of dollars a day overseas, with the global oil market enriching some of the most autocratic and anti-American regimes around the world. Here's one fact to stiffen the spine: as my friend Jon Powers and his band of veterans remind me, every day we keep going with what we're doing makes Iran $100 million richer and takes over a billion dollars out of our economy. Every single day. [John Kerry via Huffington Post, 5/12/10.

Climate: The international political ramifications of climate change and the movement of people caused by climate change is drastic.  A report from the Center for American Progress explains: "Worldwide, estimates suggest that as many as 200 million people could become climate migrants by 2050. Today there are roughly 214 million migrants globally, meaning if climate migration projections come true, they will double the total level of migration worldwide. In some cases, climate migration hot spots overlap with already volatile and unstable regions, where substantial migration could easily give rise to border conflicts and national security concerns." [CAP, 12/09]

Economic Security

Energy: The recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has demonstrated the economic impact of America's dependence on fossil fuels.  Energy expert Dan Weiss explains: "The BP spill will go on for weeks, and it is aimed directly at the world's most productive fishery, whose total commercial economic impact just in Louisiana is $2.4 billion according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries... This spill could ravage the Gulf Coast's tourism economy." A $20 billion tourist industry according to the EPA. The threats to economic security are greater than just the recent oil spill.  As Sen. Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee recently wrote, "our economy [is] constantly rattled by the volatile price of oil." [CAP, 4/30/10. John Kerry via Huffington Post, 5/12/10]

Climate: Clean energy technologies that reduce carbon emissions are of an important part of maintaining America's economic competitiveness. Bruce Usher, of the Columbia Business School recently wrote:  "The United States, with its expertise, capital and entrepreneurial spirit, is well positioned to dominate what could easily be the biggest market of the 21st century. But as the most recent delay over the Senate energy bill shows, the country is missing a key ingredient in shaping an effective clean-tech policy: the political will to encourage the innovation, manufacturing and investment necessary to bring these new technologies to market. And the longer America drags its feet, the more it cedes this enormous potential source of national wealth to the only other country able to capture it - China." [NY Times, 5/6/10]

Conservatives ignore national security imperatives behind addressing twin challenges of climate change and energy security.  Rather than engage constructively in efforts to deal with the dual problems of climate change and energy security, conservatives have elected to blindly oppose and obstruct. Bush administration political strategist Karl Rove distorted the bill on Fox and Friends , mischaracterizing it as a "tax on energy" that will force "hundreds of billions of dollars on the American people and for no good reason." Similarly, the Republican Study Committee suggested the plan would "lead to higher prices at the pump and whenever you turn on a light switch, rising energy costs will increase the price of almost every product Americans buy."

Despite conservative attempts to depict action on climate change as a handicap to American economic activity, the reality is that swift steps are necessary to "jumpstart American innovation in clean energy technology that will allow us to create jobs, compete, and win in the global economy," as President Obama said earlier this week.  The types of measures contained in the energy bill introduced in the Senate, as well as its counterpart in the House, will act as a boon to the American economy. A report published last year by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) studying the measures contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the American Clean Energy and Security Act found that total clean-energy investments in the United States could rise to "approximately $150 billion per year," which would yield "a net gain of 1.7 million new jobs." Such economic gains confer obvious benefits on America's ability to project leadership in the world's energy sector, and on American power overall.

But beyond the willful ignorance of the economic benefits conferred by action to address climate change and energy consumption - benefits which clearly advance American power - conservatives have also failed to consider the specific implications of their obstruction for our national security. In a statement for Operation Free expressing support for climate and energy legislation, Lt. General John G. Castellaw (U.S. Army, Retired) said "This isn't an environmental issue, this is a security issue. Our strategic interests, and therefore our national security and the safety of Americans, are threatened by climate change and our continuing dependence on oil. Military leaders know this isn't about polar bears and ice caps, it's about international stability and national security." [Karl Rove, 5/12/10. Republican Study Committee, 5/11/10. President Obama, via Climate Progress, 5/12/10. PERI & CAP Report, via Climate Progress, 6/18/09. Lt. General John G. Castellaw (U.S. Army, Retired), via Climate Progress, 5/12/10]

What We're Reading

Thai troops fired on anti-government protesters, turning parts of downtown Bangkok into a battlefield as the military used gunfire and tear gas to try to seal off a broad area where demonstrators have camped for weeks.

More than 30 people were injured when gunfire erupted in Kyrgyzstan as thousands of interim government supporters attempted to retake a regional government building occupied by backers of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Despite political uncertainties, the U.S. military is on track to draw down to 50,000 troops in Iraq by the end of the summer.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in eastern Afghanistan, accusing NATO-led forces of killing civilians during an overnight raid near the city of Jalalabad.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon will protest to President Obama in Washington next week about Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola and Malaysia, won seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council, despite campaigns by human rights groups to deny countries with poor rights records the minimum number of votes needed.

Nigeria and a Chinese state firm have signed a $23 billion deal to build three refineries and a petrochemical complex.

British Prime Minister David Cameron met with his coalition cabinet for the first time; the meeting focused on the "huge job" of cutting the UK's budget deficit.

Two Pakistani men suspected of providing money to Times Square car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad were arrested by the FBI in a string of raids across the Northeast.

Indonesian security forces say they have uncovered a militant plot to assassinate the president and kill foreigners in a Mumbai-style attack.

Commentary of the Day

Micah Zenko lays out the six key issues that non-nuclear states want from their nuclear brethren.

Joshua Keating documents five rogue generals who took matters into their own hands.

Bernard Kouchner writes that the defense of human rights must be the priority for governance of the Internet.