$26/Gallon Transporation Fuel Vs Benefits For Active Duty

Back on July 19, 2012: US Navy to pay $26/gallon for transportation fuel.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting:

When the U.S. Navy sailed an imposing fleet near Hawaii that was powered in part by algae and used cooking grease, environmentalists weren't the only ones who were thrilled.

Executives at bioenergy startups in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and elsewhere — and the venture capitalists backing them — had reason to cheer. The Obama administration has made the military, the largest consumer of energy in the country, a financial lifeline for cash-strapped alternative fuel innovators.

But the pilot voyage of the Navy's "great green fleet" came with a troubling aspect: price.

The fleet's green fuel costs $26 a gallon, several times more than conventional diesel and jet fuel. And the costly experiment came just as the military moved into an era of deep budget cuts.

Republicans in Congress have howled over the price tag, and they're not alone. Some independent energy experts doubt the military's projections that spending on pioneering technology will yield sufficient benefits.

And, of course, earlier this morning, from The Wall Street Journal, I posted that the military is ready to cut benefits for those on active duty because of cost:

Military eyes cuts for military benefits.

Off the table for now are changes in the retirement system. Because the military hopes to allow current service members to keep their existing retirement plans, it will be two decades until any savings from changes in military retirement are realized, making shifts in the program less urgent. 

Wow, what a bunch of hypocrisy. It's not benefits for active duty that need to be cut. The general officers who approved the plan to contract for $26/gallon of transportation fuel (vs $3.00/diesel) need to be cut/retired. Or court martialed.