Amid political backlash, pentagon pushes forward with green energy.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Watch - Geographic overview

* Maybe the problem with the Defense Department's renewable energy efforts is that they are called "green."

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And anything green these days can be radioactive on Capitol Hill. Republican lawmakers see funding requests for Defense Department clean-energy programs and cringe. Here we go again, another Solyndra, more ethanol subsidies, more government waste, more taxpayer dollars thrown at political cronies.

Military and civilian defense officials responsible for green initiatives increasingly are flummoxed and frustrated by the demonization of renewable energy. When did efforts to save lives and money become cheap partisan fodder?

"I think it's sad" that the military's campaign to burn less fuel and to secure alternative sources of energy is being politicized, one three-star general said in a private conversation.

Several industry insiders who work with the Pentagon's most visible champion for green energy, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, said they were aghast at the amount of badgering he received last month during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. By their account, Mabus was quite upset by the grilling from several congressmen, who insinuated that the secretary was being too aggressive in promoting the Navy's green fleet at the expense of more urgent force-readiness priorities.

"Now, look, I love green energy," said Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va. But he questioned why the Navy is cutting its budget for ships but increasing spending on biofuels that cost $15 per gallon. "You're not the secretary of energy. You're the secretary of the Navy," Forbes griped. Mabus was hit by similar unfriendly barbs from other HASC members.

In fairness to green-energy critics, the terms of the debate over Pentagon investments in this area have been tough to frame because the goals are so wide-ranging. On one end of the spectrum are Navy and Air Force initiatives to replace fossil fuels with renewables, with the goal of boosting "energy security"--a catchphrase for becoming less dependent on oil imports from unfriendly countries. On the other end are Defense Department green initiatives that have practical tactical aims, such as reducing fuel shipments in combat zones. Supply convoys in Afghanistan and Pakistan are regularly attacked and U.S troops and contractors have been killed and wounded.

One Pentagon contractor who produces renewable energy systems said he was appalled by the prosecutorial nature of congressional inquiries on green...