Max Baucus: “I thank my good friends from Michigan and Arizona for their gracious willingness to find an opportunity for me to make a…”

“I thank my good friends from Michigan and Arizona for their gracious willingness to find an opportunity for me to make a brief statement. I rise today in strong support of the amendment to protect the military's ability to purchase American-made fuels. Powering our military with American-made energy makes our country safer and our economy stronger. Tying our hands and forcing the American military to depend on foreign oil is short-sighted and dangerous. Instead, we need to give our commanders the flexibility to power our military with homegrown energy, like Montana camelina that supports jobs right here in America. The Department of Defense is the largest single user of oil in the world--consuming more than 355,000 barrels of oil per day last year. Despite increased domestic production of fossil fuels, rising global prices and market volatility caused DOD's fuel bill to rise by more than $19 billion in 2011. The trend is expected to continue. This is why I strongly support the efforts of our military leaders-- that is what they want--to develop and employ alternative fuels. Our military leaders recognize the problem of rising fuel costs and dependence on foreign oil. The Pentagon's largest energy user, the Air Force, has established a goal of purchasing half of its domestically consumed aviation fuel from alternative sources by the end of 2016. The Navy has also invested in the F-18 Green Hornet program--a fighter jet powered by a biofuel blend.…”