On the recordDecember 20, 2024
Mr. President, I rise today to express my gratitude to the Armed Services Committee and Energy and Natural Resources Committee for working to include an important provision that passed as part of the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA). The provision is in section 1706, titled ``Use of royalty gas at McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.'' The Department of Defense has issued a charge to ensure that all U.S. military installations are energy resilient by 2035. Under 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2911, the Secretary of Defense is responsible for ``ensur[ing] the readiness of the armed forces for their military missions by pursuing energy security and energy resilience.'' In implementing this section of the U.S. Code, the Department of Defense has pursued a plan to establish microgrids at all military installations, utilizing a diverse array of energy sources to be energy resilient. In FY 2022, the Department of Defense consumed $4.2 billion in fuel for installation energy. Further, natural gas was the largest nonelectric fuel source, used in almost 75 percent of installation energy consumption. As my colleagues know, the purpose of energy resilience is to ensure our military installations are able to continue operations in the event of a local, gridwide, or national energy supply disruption.…





