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Oxtober 17, 2018



Trump 🐵 Trying To Turn Military Bases Into Gas Stations


Beware the military-industrial complex, a real president once warned America. Unfortunately for us Trump, with all his complexes of a different sort, is looking to turn the military into an arm of industry, just like he has the rest of the federal government.

That’s the latest development in Trump’s attempts to bail out the dying coal industry, reports Ben Storrow at E&E. Initially, Storrow reports, the bailout was going to be the Department of Energy’s job. Last year Rick Perry put on his smartest looking glasses and did his best to cook up a report justifying the use of presidential war powers to require military bases to buy coal and nuclear power. But it turns out Perry might need more than just a new pair of black plastic rims: Bloomberg recently reported that the grid study didn’t turn out the way the administration wanted, which is likely why it’s yet to see the light of day.

DOE denied that portrayal this week, but Politico reported on Monday that Perry’s 🐒 plan is dead in the water , and Hannah Northey at E&E got a quote from a Trump admin official calling Perry’s proposal “poorly articulated.” (This must be a particularly painful dig for Perry, given that the criticism is coming from an administration led by a man who not only speaks like a child, but probably doesn’t even know the meaning of “articulate.” )

With an increasing recognition that Perry’s plan won’t work, Trump et al. are looking elsewhere to help the dying, dirty industry.

Not to be outclassed by the leg-flexin’ Texan, Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told the AP on Monday that the administration is considering using military installations as fossil fuel export terminals. Communities along the west coast have voted to prevent the construction of new export terminals, which has left the fossil fuel industry is hunting for ways to get its products to overseas markets.

Obviously the Trump 🦀 administration isn’t going to let a little thing like democracy stand in the way of doing whatever industry wants  , but to be fair this isn’t exactly all the Trump crew’s doing. In fact, a certain Representative from Wyoming by the name of Liz Cheney told the AP she had spoken with Zinke and Perry about using military bases “to get around some of the unreasonable obstacles that have been thrown up” to the export terminals.

A Cheney  considering democracy an “unreasonable obstacle” to fossil fuel profits? Seems Trump’s 2018 isn’t so unique after all… (Let’s just hope she doesn’t take too much after her father and “accidentally”  shoot anyone in the face over this, and then make the victim apologize.)

Fans of respecting the people who voted against polluting facilities on their coasts and in their communities were quick to criticize the plan. Washington Governor Jay Inslee told Politico that “it’s really impressive how this administration churns out harebrained schemes for their Department of c o c k-Eyed Ideas,” while former undersecretary of the Navy Tom Hicks said it “doesn’t sound logical or fully baked,” and instead “sounds a little half-cocked.”  

While turning military bases into what amounts to gas stations may sound far-fetched and insane, Trump’s already more or less done so with the rest of the federal government, so why not use military bases to serve the fossil fuel industry? 

Besides, of course, the obvious fact that doing so would worsen climate change, a problem the military recognizes and is already confronting.