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Fleming: Obama’s ‘green agenda’ is weakening America’s defenses

by Minden Press-Herald
Fleming

Fleming

Despite increased threats around the world, the President has made it clear that he believes climate change – not ISIS, Russia, Iran or North Korea – is our biggest threat to national security. His “green agenda” is a distraction from the military’s real mission – being able to fight two major wars at once. Instead, he is funneling valuable time, energy and resources into making sure the Army’s light bulbs are energy efficient.

This shift in the military’s focus has led to the Pentagon creating a bureaucracy of climate change boards, councils and working groups to control the impacts of military training and weapons buying on the climate. The Department’s Quadrennial Defense Reviews used to provide key insights to the public on emerging threats and the capabilities needed to fight potential wars. But now under the Obama Administration, climate change has become one of the key items in these reviews, and greatly changes where our resources and time are spent.

For example Admiral Samuel Locklear, former commander of American forces in the Pacific, in 2013 cited climate change as the biggest threat to peace in the Pacific – not North Korea’s nuclear ambitions or the increasingly hostile territorial disputes between China and its neighbors in the South China Sea.

Additionally, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus new requirement for the U.S. Navy to create a “green fleet” that will run on biofuels instead of traditional diesel fuel is not only a surprising decision, but wasteful as diesel fuel is not only cheaper but also much easier to acquire than biofuel.

These threats have grown significantly around the world. When the resources and intellectual capital of our top military leadership are being spent on CO2 emissions and energy efficiency at installations, we are off course. We need a President who takes national security seriously and understands the purpose of our military.

Instead of joining that cause and supporting our military, last year the President vetoed the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in order to hold military spending hostage to obtain more money to fund green energy subsidies, his flawed health care law, and his executive orders. Now, he’s even trying to undermine the military’s stretched budget by diverting resources into his climate agenda.

The purpose of our military is to deter and defeat the threats posed by both international terrorist organization such as ISIS and hostile, nuclearized regimes such as Russia and North Korea. I will be working with my colleagues to block funding for this major distraction and focus our efforts on keeping the military strong and ready to defeat our enemies.

Dr. John Fleming is Chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans and is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He is a physician and small business owner and represents the 4th Congressional District of Louisiana.

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