Iraq Veteran on Clean Energy
by: Richard Smith
Tue Sep 15, 2009

Iraq war Veteran and VoteVets.org North Dakota State Captain Dan Sylvester penned the following Op-Ed in response to criticism of the American Clean Energy and Security Act articulated by a North Dakota elected official:

GRAND FORKS – In his recent column, North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk ignores the important role that the American Clean Energy and Security Act would play in stopping our dangerous addiction to foreign oil (“Cap and trade would hurt North Dakota,” Page D3, Aug. 30).

First, let’s be clear: There is no bill in front of either the Senate or House that is listed or titled as a “cap-and-trade bill.” That is just a term one side has grabbed to scare people away from the real issue.

The real issue is that we need to get away from our dependence on foreign oil. We need to become an energy-independent nation and in the process, secure our national security and protect our environment.

As an Army veteran, I am tired of seeing American service members wounded and killed over foreign oil, the same foreign oil that is endangering our national security. Middle East oil profits help pay the same terrorists we’re fighting; thus, when we rely on their oil, we actually are funding their war against us.

Kalk also is a veteran, and I have the utmost respect for his service. Unfortunately, I do not agree with his position on energy and national security. I do, however, agree with another retired Marine officer who believes that energy is a major national security issue. That person is Gen. Jim Jones, someone who I know personally and whose opinion I trust more than Kalk’s, especially when it comes to energy and our national security.

Fortunately for us as a nation, Jones is our national security adviser and is in the right position to make sure our president understands the national security implications of energy policies.

Kalk suggests that proposed legislation should be scrapped because it will drive up the price of energy. He asks for a comprehensive national energy policy for the 21st century – a policy that is realistic, innovative and focused on the future. A national energy policy that must contain the following:

Validation that fossil fuels are here to stay.

Renewable energy goals, in order to extend the life of fossil fuels and reduce all types of emissions.

Demand-side management without limiting economic growth or quality of life.

Intelligent regulatory certainty, so investors will supply the critical capital to build the needed energy facilities.

Adequate funding for research and development to find new methods to create, store and distribute energy

On all of this, we agree with Kalk; and fortunately, the American Clean Energy and Security Act is comprehensive energy legislation that not only does what he has asks for in a national energy policy but also goes beyond. In addition to everything Kalk has requested, the act will cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It’s the critical first step in improving our national security.

Because the American Clean Energy and Security Act is a comprehensive national energy policy for the 21st century and encompasses Kalk’s five issues of concern, I can only logically deduce that he’ll support it.

Finally, when considering the costs of American energy policies, we also must consider the human costs. We have had nearly 40,000 American service members wounded and killed in Iraq (everyone forgets about the wounded). That is a lot of Americans – moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who have been wounded or killed, not to mention the trauma that has been inflicted on all of their family members.

Those who oppose the American Clean Energy and Security Act ask: How do we put a price on carbon emissions? My question to them is: How are you able to value the price of carbon emissions over the lives of our American service members? Are not the sacrifices that they and their families have made for our country worth more than that?

Sylvester is North Dakota state captain of VoteVets.org, a New York-based veterans and national security organization.

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