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You are at: Home >> News >> 072006-energy.htm

Reps. Bartlett (R-MD), Israel Announce Formation of the Congressional Defense Energy Working Group

Former CIA Director and Defense Science Board Member R. James Woolsey Joins Bartlett, Israel at Announcement

Washington, DC—U.S. Reps. Steve Israel (D- NY) and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) announced the formation of the Defense Energy Working Group today alongside former CIA Director R. James Woolsey. The Defense Energy Working Group, founded on the premise that the military’s dependence on energy is a national security vulnerability, will be a bipartisan study group of House members that will identify challenges associated with this dependence and recommend logistical and policy solutions.

“Oil prices have increased from under $30/barrel in 2003 to almost $80/barrel this past week,” said Bartlett. “Nearly half of the Defense Department’s energy spending is for jet fuel for the Air Force. Every $10 per barrel increase adds $600 million to the Air Force’s annual operating costs. In the past three years, that amounts to $2 billion, much of which has flowed into the treasuries of foreign oil suppliers. The military’s dependence upon oil underscores that energy poses a generational threat to America’s national security.”

“As a Democrat and a Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, we disagree on many things, but we do agree that energy is a major national security issue,” said Israel. “The fact is that nearly every military challenge we face is either derived from or impacted by one thing: our reliance on fossil fuels and foreign energy sources. In a world where we borrow money from China to purchase oil from unstable Persian Gulf countries to fuel our Air Force planes that protect us against potential threats from these very countries, it’s time to make the choices and investments necessary to protect our country.”

“There's a crucial relationship between the country's national security and energy policy. The way we employ energy in military operations and in our daily lives and the link to national security is the most important issue our country faces," said former CIA Director R. James Woolsey who is currently Chair of the Pentagon's Policy Panel of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Department of Defense Energy Strategy. "Attention to this issue in Congress is urgently required and I applaud Reps. Bartlett and Israel for forming the Defense Energy Working Group."

The Department of Defense (DOD) consumes 97% of the federal government’s fuel, costing taxpayers over $10 billion per year. Additionally, 60% of our oil supply is imported and over two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves are held by Persian Gulf countries. This consumption, coupled with the fact that the US borrows money from countries that compete for the world’s oil supply, poses a range of national security vulnerabilities.

The Defense Energy Working Group will work closely with the Department of Defense, other Executive Branch agencies, and the private and academic sectors to explore solutions to alleviate vulnerabilities caused by the Pentagon’s dependence on fossil fuel.

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