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Inslee wins two conservation provisions in defense bill
One could give Boeing an edge in future contract bids

May 22, 2008

The House today approved two energy-conservation amendments authored by U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) during consideration of broad legislation that would set fiscal year 2009 spending levels for the Department of Defense.  The so-called defense authorization bill passed late in the evening by a margin of 384 to 23.

“When it comes to reducing U.S. global-warming pollution, the Defense Department is the 800-pound gorilla because it’s our nation’s number one energy consumer,” said Inslee, a clean-energy advocate who authored the New Apollo Energy Act, H.R. 2809.  “It’s fitting to promote efficiency at the Department of Defense because reducing our dependence on foreign fossil fuels will improve our national security.”

Inslee’s first amendment would require the Pentagon to study greenhouse-gas emissions as one of many criteria for acquiring equipment and planning projects.  It could give Boeing, the Puget Sound area aerospace company with an Everett facility partly in Inslee’s district, an edge in future bids for contracts with the Defense Department.

In February, Boeing was denied a $40 billion dollar aerial refueling tanker contract, even though its aircraft is 24 percent more efficient than the Airbus product that won the bid.  Greenhouse-gas emissions, and other key factors like Airbus subsidies and U.S. jobs, were not taken into consideration by the Defense Department when awarding the contract.

The second Inslee amendment calls on the Pentagon to look into using power-management software to increase the efficiency of Defense Department computers.  Two Puget-Sound area companies – Microsoft and Verdiem – are leading efforts to reduce the cost of operating computers with software that keeps them on the proper setting throughout the day.  In fact, Window’s Vista is Microsoft’s most energy efficient operating system to date, with features such as the ability to automatically scale the performance of the platform processor up or down, according to demand.

The underlying defense authorization bill, H.R. 5658, would provide necessary resources and authorities to reverse declining trends in military readiness and would give service members in harm’s way the best gear and force protection possible.  Under the bill, troops would get better health care, better pay, and the benefits they have earned. 

President Bush already has threatened to veto the legislation and opposes the effort to provide troops with a 3.9 percent pay raise.  The Senate has not yet given floor consideration to the chamber’s version of the fiscal year 2009 defense authorization bill.