National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I really appreciate the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee for working with me on this amendment.

I rise in support of the amendment to clarify Congress' intent with regard to energy security and conservation programs at Fort Knox.

In January 2009, a major ice storm hit my district, crippling local infrastructure for days. This outage across the region also affected Fort Knox, due to the post's reliance on the local energy grid.

This weather event highlighted a vulnerability that local leaders at Fort Knox took very seriously and had already been working for years to mitigate. With the full support of the Pentagon, the leaders on post and in the community around Fort Knox have made great strides to make Fort Knox the Army's first energy-secure installation. This really is a great story and one that we in Congress should support.

My amendment is about how natural gas fits into the complex, highly sophisticated energy security program at Fort Knox, Kentucky being blessed with natural gas. The award-winning combination of features and the Fort Knox energy program ranges from new power generation facilities to a geothermal pond, infrared heating system, extensive energy efficiency upgrades, and even a solar array. The dashboard in the control room is incredible to see as energy officials can remotely observe and analyze current energy consumption and efficiency, isolated to the level of individual rooms in the buildings on post.

While the energy conservation program started in the 1970s, the natural gas story really came into focus a little over 10 years ago when the Army established service contracts with local companies to drill and pump methane gas on post. This is everything we want for our national security: energy independence and security that saves Federal money, off-the-grid capability during moments of a national crisis, and utilizing energy resources efficiency as close to the source as possible.

Natural gas has been produced and used on post since 2009 and makes up about 28 percent of annual needs. The amount of gas produces enough for an entire summer load. However, the catch is, and why we are here with this amendment, that the Interior Department has raised concerns because the Army did not go through the typical Bureau of Land Management lease process.

The Bureau of Land Management lease process will not work for this kind of operation because it is not in our national security interest to give mineral rights for DOD property to a third party. The Army should be able to access the resources on post for consumption and use on post without having to go through a third party or remit royalties.

This amendment simply allows Fort Knox to continue their great energy security success story and gives them the ability to remain the number one energy-secure Army installation.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chairman, I just want to close by saying that it is owned by the American people, the military, which is why we are here today at the national level. It is owned by the American people. There are things that we can work through so that we can move forward.

Fort Knox is an economic driver in the community. The Federal tax dollars that come to Fort Knox to support our men and women contribute greatly to that community. Being energy secure is a vital component when we look at the overall needs of the Army and the importance of every Army post, and Fort Knox can certainly make a great claim, being off the grid and being able to operate in times of national emergencies.

So I do think this has been thought through. I think instead of going through the other process, we need to move forward and let the Department of Defense do what the Pentagon had sent Fort Knox forward to do.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the comments of my friend from California, but I do think this is the right policy to move forward, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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