Launch initiative in Everett
Published 4:37 pm Friday, May 21, 2010
With increasing urgency in recent years, the Pentagon has warned of the national-security dangers that lurk behind our dependence on imported oil. Like most of our economy, our military runs on the stuff, potentially leaving our military readiness at the mercy of foreign powers.
Now Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is doing something about it, charting an ambitious green strategy to deploy a petroleum-free carrier strike group by 2016. Mayor Ray Stephanson, seeing a big opportunity for Everett, is wisely seizing on it.
Why not make Naval Station Everett the model base for a Green Navy, Stephanson asks. It’s the Navy’s most modern base, and already a showcase for energy-efficient construction. The Snohomish County PUD, a national leader in green-energy development, stands as a ready and creative partner — a role it’s already playing with the Navy in a number of ways.
Stephanson, of course, is also angling to keep a carrier here after the USS Abraham Lincoln leaves in 2013 for midlife refueling of its nuclear reactors. Being on the cutting edge of a green push would also work in Everett’s favor the next time base closures are considered.
(Naval Station Everett’s annual payroll of $230 million — it’s the county’s No. 2 employer, behind Boeing — is never taken for granted by any savvy elected official.)
Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, has made his vision of a “Great Green Fleet” his signature issue. He touted it on a visit here last month, and later presided over the first flight test of the “Green Hornet,” an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet powered by a biofuel blend. Energy efficiency, it was recently announced by the Pentagon, is now a key factor in the military’s purchasing decisions.
To underscore Mabus’ commitment, his assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment is a former California energy commissioner, Jackalyne Pfannenstiel. “Energy” is new to that position’s title, and creating green energy strategies is clearly at the forefront of Pfannenstiel’s marching orders.
She was among the senior Navy officials Stephanson and his government affairs director, Pat McClain, met with in Washington, D.C., last month in an effort to tout Everett’s interest and readiness to host a major green initiative. McClain said the city has also approached the University of Washington and Boeing to plant seeds of potential interest.
A Green Navy would thrive in Puget Sound, where it would enjoy wide public support and gain from the many green industries that are already growing here.
Naval Station Everett is just the place for Mabus’ vision of a Green Fleet to become a reality.
