The U.S. Congress is hysterical that a significant portion of the energy needs of U.S. military installations abroad are met by Russian-supplied natural gas and other fossil fuels. Stars & Stripes reported yesterday that, according to an analysis by Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab, Ramstein Air Base in Germany alone consumes more than $4 million worth of Russian gas a year. Collectively in Europe, U.S. installations have relied on Russian natural gas, oil and coal for 30% of their energy needs.
That dependency, Stars & Stripes reports, is now ostensibly helping fuel Russia’s military effort in Ukraine and a renewed push in Congress to reduce the U.S. military’s reliance on Russian-sourced energy. The House’s draft of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act singles out Russian fuel consumption by American forces in Europe and spurs the Pentagon to pursue total energy independence from Moscow. “The consumption of Russian fuel by the United States military directly helps the Russian economy and thereby the Russian ability to continue to engage in Ukraine,” declared Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA). That, of course, must be reduced by the greatest extent possible. The House legislation requires all main bases in Europe to adopt installation energy plans by June 2023 to reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels and asks the Pentagon to eliminate the usage of Russian energy entirely no later than five years after the plans are completed.
It’s not clear if the U.S. military dependence on Russian energy supplies includes jet fuel, but in general U.S. overseas military bases depend heavily on host nation support for their fuel and power needs. NATO jets burn hundreds of thousands of gallons of jet fuel every day on missions ranging from training flights to combat patrols, reconnaissance and transport missions. Will those flights be able to continue if Germans are freezing in the dark next winter due to the cutoff of Russian gas?
