 |
Back Budget Priorities and Energy Security No Blood for Oil: a common refrain in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Our foreign policy throughout the Middle East is focused on securing the resources to feed our national dependence on oil. The U.S. can no longer justify our over-consumption of fossil fuels – the cost is too high. In order to correct our energy policies we must reform our budget priorities. In doing so, we can fundamentally shift our foreign policy to make us more secure. The military is the single greatest investment the U.S. has made in energy security. A recent report by the National Priorities Project, published January 2009, found that up to 30% of United States military spending goes towards securing energy supplies around the world. In 2009, the U.S. will spend an estimated $100 billion securing energy access through the military and only $1.26 billion in renewable energy. Rather than creating sustainable alternatives the U.S. government has been chasing an outdated technology around the globe.
The Department of Defense is the largest oil consuming government body in the United States and the world. If the Pentagon were a nation ranked for its total oil consumption it would come in 38th, just behind Greece. According to the U.S. Defense Energy Support Center Fact Book 2004 (the latest available figure), in Fiscal Year 2004, the U.S. military fuel consumption increased to 144 million barrels. That year the DOD spent approximately $8.2 billion directly on energy, seven times more than the United States spent on energy efficiency. In 2003, the Pentagon raised the alarm with a report detailing the security consequences of climate change fueled conflict. The report detailed: food and water shortages leading to riots; land loss resulting in territory wars; and the startling potential for nuclear war as fossil fuels become scarcer. The military, defense contractors, and many politicians have benefited exponentially from our reliance on fossil fuels through lucrative contracts and bottomless budgets. It is becoming clear, however, that the world cannot continue along this pace. We cannot continue to increase military spending to secure energy supplies while under-funding renewable energy and energy efficiency. This only serves to create a loop in which the very practices and policies meant to address energy issues make them worse. Peace Action is working through several coalitions to address the connection between energy security, budget priorities, and defense spending. As part of The Pacific Freeze campaign, a coalition of NGOs targeting to the nations involved in the six party talks to halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Peace Action advocated for reductions in military spending and a global green energy fund. Our ongoing collaboration with the No War No Warming coalition continues to call attention to the links between our global military hegemony and energy security through on-the-ground action and public education. In April, Peace Action will collaborate with United for Peace and Justice to mobilize “Beyond War, A New Economy Is Possible: Yes we Can!” an action calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a radical change in national priorities to shift military spending to clean energy spending and domestic needs. |
The most recent occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq are part of a larger U.S. foreign policy strategy in place since 1980. The Carter Doctrine, espoused and later disparaged by former President Jimmy Cater, claimed, “Current trends indicate an increasing reliance on petroleum products from areas of instability in the coming years, not reduced reliance. The United States will continue to foster access to and flow of energy resources vital to the world economy.” He went on to articulate how far the U.S. would go to protect our interests in these ‘areas of instability’: “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault…such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” 
