Mark Nevitt on “Can We Reconcile Clean Energy Goals with National Security?”

Apr 27, 2023 | Charlie Dunlap
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In today’s post Mark Nevitt, Associate Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, expertly addresses news reports about a supposed controversy between the Pentagon and the Interior Department regarding plans for offshore wind turbines that could, it is contended, interfere with military training and readiness.

According to these reports, these offshore wind turbines could interfere with military training and readiness, but the Department of Interior simply refused to take the Pentagon’s concerns into account.  Specifically, Bloomberg reported that four of the planned offshore wind leases are being placed in locations that the Air Force and Navy identify on maps as “highly problematic.”

The Biden Administration has pushed hard for investment in the American clean energy sector with the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs, and making the U.S. more energy independent.  One of his first executive orders, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” laid out an ambitious plan to do just that.  Since then, the Biden Administration has issued new rules for electric vehicles and signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law—significant environmental, energy, and climate achievements.