http://www.congress.org/news/2010/01/28/veterans_group_pushes_climate_bill?all=1

CQ/Roll Call. Congress.org. Jan 28
Veterans group pushes climate bill/At rallies, Operation Free says climate change poses a threat to national security
By Ambreen Ali

A group of activists is taking a different angle to argue for cap and trade: national security.
As part of a bus tour through 16 states, Operation Free will hold town halls and campus meetings and interview with local media to argue that climate change is a threat to national security.
Their arguments: Extremists thrive in areas where rising sea levels and natural disasters have caused food and water shortages. Foreign oil dollars can fall in the hands of terrorist groups, while humanitarian relief missions stretch an already taxed military.
“People like me have seen first hand the effects of our energy policy,” said Jonathan Gensler, who served during the first year of the current Iraq war. He participated in two Operation Free bus tours last fall through his home state of West Virginia.
At the local meetings, Gensler tries to use his credibility as a veteran to sway people to care about climate change.
“I’ve buried a number of friends …. A couple of them died from car bombs that were funded in some part by American dollars being sent to foreign oil dictators,” he said.
Hundreds of veterans like Gensler have participated since the buses took off last summer. The group is currently on its third and biggest tour, which kicked off in Washington, D.C., last week.
After 11 stops in Virginia and Missouri, the bus will make its way through Colorado. By the end of February, they plan to get through Arizona, Washington, North Dakota and Ohio.
The project is supported by the Truman National Security Project, an advocacy group started by veterans who supported Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) during his 2004 presidential run. The group has since committed itself to one of Kerry’s biggest priorities: passing a climate bill.
“The threat climate change is causing in places like sub-Saharan Africa is a destabilizing force,” said Jonathan Powers, also an Iraq vet and chief operating officer of the Truman Project. “It creates migration, fragile governments. That’s exactly the type of breeding ground where we have to go and fight.”
The Pentagon is expected to echo that argument in a Quadrennial Defense Review due out Monday. Congress requires the study every four years to help the military chart its way forward.
Climate change is finally part of that discussion, Kerry said Wednesday as he previewed the report at a climate conference on Capitol Hill.
“It’s going to come out and list climate change for the first time as an instability factor that affects our troops and may in fact wind up costing us lives,” Kerry said. “We already have millions of people who are what you call climate refugees.”
Kerry is working with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) to draft a so-called “tripartisan” solution.
“As a Republican, I believe clean air is a good thing,” Graham said at the conference, emphasizing the need to find domestic energy sources.
The lawmakers disagree on the path forward, however. Many liberals oppose offshore drilling and want to focus on non-carbon energy sources. Conservatives are concerned about jobs that depend on mining for coal and other resources.
Earlier in the day, Graham released a statement dismissing the House climate bill (HR 2454 ) as “too onerous on business.” He also said there weren’t enough backers in the Senate for the energy and climate bills currently under consideration.
But he added that Congress must keep trying.
“Doing nothing continues an irresponsible practice of sending $440 billion a year overseas to buy oil from people who don’t like us very much,” Graham said.
On the buses, the veterans try to relay that message through their personal experiences.
“We’re dealing with a different type of threat, an intangible threat,” said Douglas L. Peters. He was part of Iraq and Afghanistan invasion forces, and his Marine unit was the first to suffer casualties.
“I started seeing how America would have to interact with the world going forward,” Peters said. “This is not your Sierra Club type argument anymore.”
Peters said the strongest opposition he faces is from people who believe climate change is too elusive to pose a real threat. Some veterans also oppose the group, partly because they see environmentalism as a liberal issue.
“It should be very apolitical,” he said. “That’s what I can’t emphasize enough.”

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