Marines look to biofuels for energy

The commanding general in charge of many of the Marines Corps’ installations on the East Coast said that locally produced biofuels could help the Marines meet the “considerable” renewable energy goals required by federal law.

Maj. Gen. Carl Jensen, the Marine Corps Installations East commander for an area that ranges from Florida to Virginia and that includes Cherry Point, spoke at a biofuels forum at the Jones County Civic Center.

The Military Growth Task Force hosted the event to try to grow the biofuels industry to help the military meet its renewable energy targets and to help keep land around its bases rural through farming, said Colleen Roberts, the task force’s communications director.

Jensen said there is a mandate to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent by 2015 compared with a 2003 baseline under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. He said they must also grow their use of renewable energy sources by 25 percent by 2025.

“We’re into geothermal where it makes sense, we’re into PV (photovoltaic), we’re into biofuels — anywhere and anyhow that I can obtain some of these goals,” Jensen said. “I’ve got to start now, and I’ve got to move out aggressively if I’m going to meet these goals. And I need your help.”

Jensen said that the installations that he commands are responsible for about 41 percent of the corps’ total energy consumption. They make up 29 percent of the total cost because he said he uses coal as a major source of energy.

“Coal is relatively inexpensive, but if you’re an environmentalist, you’d probably prefer that I didn’t use so much coal,” he said.

Jensen said he would like to buy locally produced biofuels to help reach the Marines reach their energy targets. The military is already using some biofuels. In fiscal year 2009, Camp Lejeune used 50,034 gallons of biodiesel and Cherry Point used 43,339 gallons, Roberts said.

Jensen said he’s had discussions with the Defense Energy Supply Center, which provides fuel to the military, about buying more biofuels. Encouraging their production could encourage farming and help curb development potentially harmful to the military, he said.

“We would like to make sure that frankly, skyscrapers aren’t built right next to our bases, or underneath our aviation military training routes,” he said. “It just makes sense.”

Jensen described a new initiative that would involve the purchase of biofuels and the sale of locally produced meats and vegetables at military commissaries and in chow halls that could help spur agriculture and keep the land rural.

“It’s just starting out, but I’m excited about the prospect of partnering with our farmers and the great state of North Carolina to ensure that frankly, that this area doesn’t look like Miami Beach 30 years from now, where we can maintain the fundamentally agrarian nature of this great state, at least on the eastern side of the state,” he said.

Roberts wrote in an e-mail that local farmers will need to grow the crops to start the industry, and investments will be needed into a biofuels refinery to turn those crops into fuel. The task force’s goal is to supply the military with 1.5 million gallons per year of biodiesel by 2012.

“We see this industry as an opportunity to engage not only farmers and military, but the region as well,” Roberts wrote. “Imagine a regional refinery that could supply biofuel to the bases, and the school bus fleets, county fleets, emergency services, businesses, hospitals, prisons, etc.”