[Peace-discuss] RT "Biden promises eco-friendly US military"

[J.B. Nicholson]

 From https://www.rt.com/news/554405-biden-green-military/

> US President Joe Biden has announced a “process” is underway to make every vehicle
> in the country’s massive military “climate friendly,” adding that “we’re spending
> billions of dollars to do it” during an Earth Day celebration on Friday.
> 
> The president was in Seattle for the holiday, using his speech in Seward Park as
> an opportunity to tout his green bona fides. But while the Pentagon is in the
> process of developing a supposedly “zero emissions” plan for non-tactical fleets,
> due in 2035, there is no project currently underway to convert all of the vehicles
> of the world’s most expensive military from fossil fuels to electric.
> 
> Such an overhaul would require any potential theater of war to have extensive
> charging infrastructure for the fleet of electric vehicles, something that simply
> isn’t possible in most of the countries where the US has bases. The flammability
> of current models of electric vehicle batteries would also work against a
> “climate-friendly” military, making the US vehicles much easier to destroy with a
> well-aimed shot to the battery.
> 
> While Biden admitted he had a vintage Corvette that “does nothing but pollute the
> air,” he took care to qualify the statement by claiming he didn’t drive it “very
> much.”
> 
> The president didn’t stop at his ambitions to make the military green but also
> boasted that he had “made it clear to [his] friends up in Nantucket and that area”
> that they were to drop their objections to offshore wind farms planned for the
> Martha’s Vineyard area. “I don’t want to hear anymore about you don’t like looking
> at [wind turbines]. They’re pretty,” he claims to have told his wealthy pals.
> Former president and Biden’s former boss Barack Obama and his wife have a home on
> Martha’s Vineyard.
> 
> Biden has come under fire from climate activists since he was a candidate in the
> 2020 election. Many have doubted that his history of pro-industry advocacy had
> truly given way to a change of heart on the environment.
> 
> His decision earlier this month to reopen federal lands for oil and gas leases
> broke a campaign promise, further infuriating the green crusaders his party has
> courted.
> 
> The Biden administration has asked for $773 billion to spend on the military for
> fiscal year 2023. As massive as this figure may seem, it represents just a 4%
> increase from last year’s supersized defense budget. It’s unclear what portion of
> the budget funds requested are earmarked for green initiatives.