Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of the Flores/Gingrey/Conaway/Hensarling Amendment to H.R. 2397 that will prevent funds in this legislation from being used to carry out Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Section 526 prohibits all federal agencies from contracting for alternative fuels that emit higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions than ``conventional petroleum sources.'' This means that if a federal agency--particularly the Department of Defense--has the ability to utilize an alternative fuel that even has one scintilla more of carbon emissions than conventional fuels, it cannot be used. As a result, Section 526 severely stifles innovation from DoD to improve clean carbon capture technologies for alternative fuels, thereby increasing our dependence on foreign oil, and will only further increase fuel costs.

Mr. Chair, I support a full repeal of Section 526 because the cost of refined product for DoD has increased by over 500 percent in the last ten years when volume only increased by 30 percent. This amendment takes a very important step towards achieving this goal by prohibiting funding to carry out Section 526 for the upcoming fiscal year in the DoD.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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