Biofuel Battle

Biofuel proponents are gearing up for a major fight over Defense Department clean energy and alternative fuel policies when the Senate Armed Services Committee marks up the fiscal year 2013 defense authorization bill this week, as committee Republicans ready amendments to block DOD plans to purchase advanced biofuels, according to a story published in last week's Clean Energy Report:

The Senate mark-up follows House passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2013 on May 18, which would block DOD efforts to purchase advanced drop-in biofuels. House Republicans opposed the DOD effort over the program's cost and as a proxy attack on President Obama's clean energy and climate change agendas.

Sens. Mark Udall (D-CO) and Patty Murray (D-WA) will offer amendments in the Armed Services Committee that support DOD's biofuel development priorities, staffers say. Democrats are bracing for an effort by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a vocal critic of DOD's biofuel efforts, to block all military purchases of drop-in fuels with an amendment similar to that of Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) that succeeded in the House.

Sources say Inhofe is readying several amendments to block the military's green energy programs. A spokesman for Inhofe says the senator is perplexed that the military plans to spend billions to buy expensive biofuels for its fleets, while DOD is cutting its budget for ships and planes.

Staffers for Udall and Murray briefed industry May 18 on their strategy to preserve the military's biofuel programs during a drop-in fuels forum hosted by the Agriculture Department that drew hundreds of industry representatives as well as staff from the Energy Department and DOD. The forum was part of series of briefings on a multi-agency effort to advance drop-in fuels, which the military eyes as an alternative to petroleum with characteristics that make it superior to other biofuels like ethanol.

A Udall staffer told the industry audience that Inhofe will offer amendments that may go beyond the Conaway amendment. The staffer said it was urgent for industry to show support for the DOD biofuels programs in the coming days, with messaging focused on economic gains that come from DOD's biofuel efforts, the energy security aspects of advanced drop-in fuels, and the support it provides to troops by reducing their vulnerabilities in fossil-fuel supply convoys.

"The attack has been, this is about the green agenda" and that it's a proxy for climate change legislation, said the staffer. But the debate over drop-in fuels needs to shift to, "this is going to win wars," it's about combat effectiveness, energy security and protection. "We have a fight on our hands . . . and a genuine debate needs to happen," the staffer added.

Udall has asked senior military officials to describe the problems posed by the Conaway amendment in an effort to counter that provision in the Senate, according to the staffer, who said Udall expects to get an answer back from the military soon. In the meantime, Udall staff are poring over the Conaway amendment "line by line" to understand it enough to effectively block it in the Senate version of NDAA 2013.