What A Bunch of Malarkey -- Energy Related But Not The Bakken

Updates

February 17, 2013: Another "scary sequester story": 

Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan next year may see their war tours extended because budget cuts will drastically limit training for brigades to replace them, the top Army general said Friday.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the military will be able to fund training and operations for combat units in Afghanistan now and for those deploying in the summer and fall. But he says there will be delays in training for those deploying in 2014.

Maybe the US Army could borrow some US Navy money; the navy has enough money to fuel their boats with $16/gallon biofuel as a politically correct experiment instead of buying $4/gallon diesel.

Original Post

Malarkey according to wiktionary.

USNI is reporting that budget cuts are responsible for lack of cash to pay to refuel an aircraft carrier:

The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News. Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.

“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said. “CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.”

I didn't read any more of the story but something tells me this story was not mentioned, the story in which it was reported that the US Navy is now buying biofuel/diesel for $16/gallon when conventional diesel can be had for $4/gallon. 

So, "we're" short money for defense, but not too short to spend $16/gallon for diesel fuel to refuel US Navy ships:

This is going to help the Defense Department weather looming budget cuts, for sure.  Teaming up with the Department of Agriculture (which has a cheery Rotary Club ring to it), the Navy has purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for about $16 a gallon, or about 4 times the price of its standard marine fuel, JP-5, which has been going for under $4 a gallon.

You won’t be surprised to learn that a member of Obama’s presidential transition team, T. J. Glauthier, is a “strategic advisor” at Solazyme, the California company that is selling a portion of the biofuel to the Navy.  Glauthier worked – shock, shock – on the energy-sector portion of the 2009 stimulus bill.

The Navy sale isn’t Solazyme’s first trip to the public trough, of course.  The company got a $21.8 million grant from the 2009 stimulus package.

What a great way to start the weekend. 

Oh, one more thing. This is for a ship going in for major overhaul/refueling which is scheduled to take four years, but will probably take longer. Delaying this fueling for a month or two will hardly impact naval readiness. Of course, that's just an opinion. I really don't know but I would assume if this were really, really important, the president would step in and order barges using $16 diesel to tow the ship to the shipyard.