Secretary of Energy Granholm believes the U.S. military can rely on electricity to fuel its tanks and other military fighting equipment in about a decade. And, of course, that electricity must be supplied by politically correct resources—wind and solar power—that are weather-dependent. Granholm testified before the Senate in support of a plan to fully establish an all-electric vehicle fleet in the U.S. military by the 2030s. Granholm, a former Michigan Democratic governor, believes that reducing reliance on the “volatility of globally-traded fossil fuels” is key. She claimed an EV military fleet would feel fewer effects from the economic repercussions of events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, she ignores the facts that a fully-electric military would be “expensive,” costing billions or more, and would be inherently “unreliable.” Reliability of equipment is a cornerstone of military readiness.
Just imagine a son or daughter in an EV military tank operated by enormous and heavy batteries that go dead in the middle of battle with no ability to be recharged quickly or at all, because the opposing side is advancing with modern weapons fueled by petroleum as that country is using the world’s resources to their most suited uses. Can you envision Americans building charging stations behind enemy lines to make these EV tanks usable? As this example shows, the Biden administration all in one basket (electrification) mentality should make Americans cringe at the sheer absurdity of it. As the Biden administration does all it can to eliminate American energy independence under the guise of “clean” renewable energy, it is creating a national security risk. Further, the Biden administration’s green energy goals rely in many ways upon Communist China—a potential enemy—as that country dominates the battery supply chain and the supply chains of most critical minerals that renewable energy and electric vehicles need. The “volatility of globally-traded minerals” that are dominated by Chinese investments and processing apparently has not occurred to Secretary Granholm.
Army Unveils Its Electrification Plan
In the actual report from the Army, however, there is a distinction between electrifying non-tactical vs. tactical vehicles. Tactical vehicles are basically any vehicle that is used in combat, combat support, training, or related operations. Non-tactical vehicles are usually found on military bases and are used for transportation to military appointments, group activities, etc.
The U.S. Army plan to establish an electric vehicle fleet, outlined in a document titled “Climate Strategy,” calls for the service to cut its emissions by 50 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It separates tactical vehicles from non-tactical vehicles. The strategy is to establish an “all-electric light-duty non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2027” and an “all-electric non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2035.” For tactical vehicles, the plan calls for “field purpose-built hybrid-drive tactical vehicles by 2035 and fully electric tactical vehicles by 2050.” Pretty amazing when none exist today, and when the supply chains for all the minerals necessary are dominated by China.
The Army strategy states, “There are 950 renewable energy projects supplying 480 megawatts of power to the Army … scoped and planned through 2024. The Army will continue these and other efforts under the Army Installation Energy and Water Strategic Plan to maximize resilience, efficiency and affordability on every installation.” The goals are “100 percent carbon-pollution-free electricity for Army installations’ needs by 2030” and the installation of a “microgrid on every installation by 2035.”
Despite having later dates for tactical versus non-tactical vehicles, the plan is still expensive and ludicrous. The critical minerals needed to manufacture batteries are located in countries like China and the mineral processing is dominated by China. Batteries and battery components are generally not manufactured in the United States, which creates national security problems. And while the United States has critical mineral resources, the Biden administration is revoking leases, delaying permits and listing plants as endangered to stall critical mineral mining projects in the United States that are increasingly under legal challenge from environmentalists and others.
Environmental Justice is the Buzzword
What Granholm was preaching to the Senate is Biden’s environmental justice plan. A few weeks ago, President Biden signed an Executive Order, “Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All,” that requires all military branches to incorporate environmental justice into their missions. Environmental justice requires federal agencies, including the military, to be up to the required standards of Biden’s climate agenda, as the administration scores their rate of performance. The Executive Order reads in part, “For far too long, communities across our country have faced persistent environmental injustice through toxic pollution, underinvestment in infrastructure and critical services, and other disproportionate environmental harms often due to a legacy of racial discrimination including redlining. These communities with environmental justice concerns face even greater burdens due to climate change.” Biden aims to rectify all of this carnage by spending well over a trillion dollars through various bills including the Infrastructure and “Inflation Reduction Act.”
Unfortunately, the United States is deliberately undermining our economy and our military over climate change while our enemies are building their offensive and defensive weapons quicker, stronger, and in some instances even better. The fact that ‘our leaders’ want to change how we develop, manufacture, produce and distribute our military capabilities –in the name of ‘the climate,’ is terrifying for it will cause Washington’s politicians to further their activist agendas while putting our national security at risk. Huge amounts of money are being distributed to “green groups” to promote these policies while also (unspokenly) building political cadres of people dependent upon federal tax money. President Biden and Secretary Granholm are saying that this will help make America energy independent. But, the United States is already energy independent with its coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear and renewable resources. Nonetheless, the Biden administration is doing all it can to restrict American manufacturing and our energy-producing capabilities to push its climate agenda.
Conclusion
Secretary of Energy Granholm believes that our military can electrify its operations—at least its non-tactical fleet by 2030. The Army recently released a report on its electrification plans that includes both non-tactical and tactical vehicles with specific dates to be accomplished. This ridiculousness is going on in the U.S. military while other countries are developing their weapons with fuels that make sense in a combat situation where charging stations are not at a tank’s beck and call. The whole situation is in the name of environmental justice—a term that is bandied about that may fool politicians into doing the Biden administration’s bidding—and supposedly in making the United States energy independent. However, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, the United States is already energy independent. The Army’s plan, however, will do the opposite by making the United States dependent on China for batteries and critical minerals and greatly risking our national security. Instead of fostering energy security, these programs and their enormous costs actually reduce our energy, economic and national security.
*This article was adapted from content originally published by the Institute for Energy Research.