Opening Statements

Today, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing titled "Ensuring Resiliency of Military Installations and Operations in Response to Climate Changes."

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I applaud the ongoing efforts of the Department of Defense to make installations more resilient and both installations and operations more efficient, but I wish to note from the outset that the Committee on Armed Services is not among the committees of jurisdiction for climate change matters. I understand the House Majority has directed each of the committee chairs to have a hearing focused on "climate change," however, when national energy policy is debated, this Committee's role is to ensure that any emerging policy does not adversely affect military operations—an important, but far narrower subset of the climate change debate.

"As each of our witnesses have noted, many of the Department's 500 installations have experienced the effects of severe weather. The United States armed forces must be prepared to operate in adverse conditions; further, it behooves all of us to conserve resources wherever possible. In the case of military operations, fuel and water are critical commodities needed continuously, but are difficult to transport.

"We depend on our military forces and installations for national security and cannot afford lapses in either. Our forces and our bases must be able to operate in all conditions of conflict and weather. We must take responsible action to make military installations more resilient and responsible action to lighten the logistical burdens on our operational forces. I emphasize responsible…by that I mean measures that enhance resiliency and national security, not arbitrary goals established for other reasons.

"I raise this concern because, in the past, environmentally based mandates have squandered too much money on "greening" the military. Given the minute percentage of the nation's total power usage the DoD represents, placing arbitrary and costly mandates upon the military does not meaningfully affect global climate change, but it does reduce the Department's readiness.

"As we seek to enhance the resiliency of bases and reduce the vulnerability of our resource supply chains, I look forward to hearing about potential solutions. But insofar as we diverge from our subcommittee's jurisdiction in order to blame climate change for the actions of international terrorist organizations and intergenerational tribal conflicts, I believe it will be a distraction from rebuilding our military's readiness at best and an excuse to pursue boondoggles at worst.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to our witnesses' testimony."
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