Army: Seeing Green

Katherine Hammack, an energy and "green" building expert, assumed the position of the Army's top installations and environment official earlier this month, Defense Environment Alert reports this morning. Her taking the job completes a move by all three services to fill their top environment positions with people who have a strong link or commitment to climate and energy security, one environmentalist notes. Specifically:

Hammack was sworn in as the Army's assistant secretary for installations and environment Aug. 4. In her new role, Hammack will oversee installation policy, energy security and management, environmental, BRAC, housing, utility and occupational safety programs for the Army. Prior to her appointment, she led Ernst & Young's climate change and sustainability services practice, her biography says. She was a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council, helped develop the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, building standard, and has over 30 years experience in offering energy and sustainability advisory services, according to her biography. She was also a consultant to the White House on the "greening" of the White House and the Executive Office Building.

In correspondence to the Senate related to her nomination, Hammack said that her top environmental challenges will be to ensure the execution of the 2005 BRAC decisions and Army transformation efforts, which include challenges related to cleanups and environmental impact analyses. Other important challenges, she said, are "ensuring compliance with environmental sustainability and energy goals in federal mandates," according to a response she gave to advance questions from the Senate. On the green building front, she said she has spent the last three and a half years serving on a LEED committee developing the LEED building standard, adding that she believes compliance with that standard, "as part of the Army's LEED program, will result in more sustainable, energy efficient buildings."

Her appointment means that all of the top installations and environment positions within the services and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense have people with strong commitments to climate security, the environmentalist source says, noting it indicates they all view energy conservation and surety and renewable energy as key elements of DOD's mission. "That should reinforce efforts within the Department to move from simply being the biggest energy guzzler to a leader in the transition to a non-carbon economy," the source says.

Her appointment comes at a time when the Army, along with the other services, is looking to reduce its energy consumption and boost its use of renewable fuels, as compared to traditional fossil fuels, and comes as the services are required by an October 2009 executive order on sustainability to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, undertake water conservation efforts and meet sustainability requirements for federal buildings by certain dates.

Similarly, President Obama has put in place energy and environmental experts in the Navy and Air Force top installations and environment slots. Jackalyne Pfannenstiel and Terry Yonkers were confirmed by the Senate in March to lead the Navy and Air Force's installations and environment offices, respectively. Pfannenstiel was previously a top California energy regulator and chaired Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) Climate Action Team's subcommittee on energy and land use, as well as helped create the state's low-carbon fuel standards, according to her biography.