Climate hawks begin push for green fiscal 2025 defense bill
Some of Capitol Hill's most prominent environmental champions are calling for congressional leaders to pack the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill with provisions that would support energy efficiency and climate resilience.
The co-chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition's Climate and National Security Task Force urged leaders of the Armed Services Committee in a letter last week to use the National Defense Authorization Act to implement policies that would help the Pentagon get ahead of the risks posed by natural disasters.
They noted that climate change, which is making extreme weather more common and more severe, is already interfering with Department of Defense operations.
“As we continue to see rising geopolitical tensions around the world, extreme weather is destabilizing our military installations and servicemembers’ ability to respond,” Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), co-chair of the task force.
He added, “We need to take a comprehensive approach that combines clean energy solutions with the innovative technologies of the future to make our bases and installations resilient and secure.”
Lawmakers have scheduled the first full committee markups for the fiscal 2025 NDAA for mid-June. The fiscal 2024 NDAA passed in December and included a number of provisions on nuclear energy, critical minerals, carbon emissions and environmental remediation.
The task force broke down the policies it wants to see included in the fiscal 2025 bill into three categories: enhancing the disaster-readiness of military installations, improving the military’s energy resilience, and safeguarding servicemembers’ health and safety.
To support disaster readiness, the lawmakers recommended “robust reauthorization” of a number of programs that have enjoyed bipartisan support, such as the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and the Defense Operational Resilience Cooperation program.
They requested that the NDAA include language requiring DOD to update its list of military installations most vulnerable to extreme weather, to accelerate planning and implementation of projects related to installation resilience, and to fund full-time conservation and resilience coordinators on certain installations.
The group proposed bolstering the military’s energy resilience by supporting programs to build high-efficiency energy systems that “contribute to mission assurance, save energy, and reduce DoD’s energy costs.”
They recommended fast-tracking the military’s transition to electric vehicles by supporting charging stations on installations and directing each branch of the military to develop plans for using EVs as backup power sources for installations.
The lawmakers also encouraged language that would require DOD to sign purchase power agreements for 20 years or more that would “enhance the utilization of renewable electricity.”
The coalition said it hopes to see personnel health and safety addressed in part by reducing waste and contamination on installations.
They called for language requiring the Pentagon to look for alternatives to single-use plastic water bottles and requiring the military to continue its work to address pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
As one of Congress’ “must-pass” bills, lawmakers could also try to use the NDAA as a vehicle for significant energy legislation that is unlikely to get a standalone vote.
That could include a bipartisan permitting package that lawmakers hope to finish by the end of the year and compromise nuclear energy legislation that lawmakers say is close to completion.
Clarification: This story was updated to clarify that the letter came from the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition's Climate and National Security Task Force.