If you’re over the age of 40 you probably remember the infamous $600 toilet seats and $400 hammers from the golden age of government waste, fraud and abuse. Should you believe those days are behind us, you’ve got another thing coming.
In the Liberals world of anything for green, the U.S. Navy is implementing a program to power its ships with bio-fuel, despite the fact this “green fuel” costs nearly seven times more than conventional diesel fuel.
July will be the first month that the Navy will be using bio-fuel in operations, powering five ships in a multinational exercise off the coast of Hawaii.
The so-called “Great Green Fleet” will operate on a 50-50 blend of alternative and conventional fuel as part of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ plan to have half the Navy fleet on alternative fuel by 2020.
This wonderful bio-fuel is a bargain, in government terms, costing only $26 a gallon versus the market price of $3.60 a gallon for ordinary diesel; who could complain?
Republicans on Capitol Hill are outraged at another of President Obama’s “green at any cost,” programs.
“I don’t believe it’s the job of the Navy to be involved in building … new technologies. I don’t believe we can afford it,” said Arizona Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to Reuters.
McCain is both right and wrong. The military is often involved in the development of new technologies; however it’s also the king when it comes to wasting taxpayer dollars. Bio-diesel doesn’t qualify as a new technology; just inefficient technology.
Rep. Randy Forbes, a Republican on the House Armed Services Committee cited studies that show that bio-fuel will always be more expensive and accuses Mabus of failing to provide Congress with a full cost analysis, according to Reuters News Service.
A Navy official said, “Investments in bio-fuel will produce a competitively priced and domestically produced alternative to conventional fuel. Such investments help the Navy and the nation become less dependent on foreign oil and thus less subject to volatility in oil prices that directly affect our readiness.”
The Navy’s fuel is derived from seeds, algae and chicken fat; want to venture a guess at what this latest “technology” will do to the price of chicken at the grocery store?
How long will it be before PETA starts throwing blood on Navy ships?
Apparently the Navy Secretary has instructed his minions well on the party line. At no time has any Navy official involved in the bio-fuel program mentioned that diesel domestically available from the Keystone XL Pipeline and Hydraulic Fracturing could supply all the needs of the Navy without the need to sacrifice Colonel Sander’s main ingredient.
While $26 a gallon Navy diesel might not be a $600 toilet seat, it is one more example of a bloated government choosing winners and losers; and, as always, the ultimate losers are the taxpayers.
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