HOLD UNTIL RELEASEDBY THE COMMITTEEStatement of
Mr. Richard G. Kidd IV
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense(Environment and Energy Resilience)

Before the Senate Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
Military Infrastructure and Climate Resilience

May 19, 2021

Introduction
Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, and distinguished members of thesubcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you on the important topic ofmilitary infrastructure and climate resilience.
Our installations are key platforms for our nation’s defense. They are our power
projection platforms and support every mission the DoD Components undertake to defend thisnation.
Therefore, we must work to ensure installations and infrastructure are resilient to a wide
range of challenges to include climate change, disruptions to energy or water supplies, and direct
physical or cyber-attacks.
Federal law mandates that the Secretary of Defense “shall ensure readiness of the armed
forces for their military missions by pursuing energy security and energy resilience” (10 U.S.C.
2911).
The term “military installation resilience” means the capability of a military installation
to avoid, prepare for, minimize the effect of, adapt to, and recover from extreme weather events,
or from anticipated or unanticipated changes in environmental conditions, that do, or have thepotential to, adversely affect the military installation or essential transportation, logistical, orother necessary resources outside of the military installation that are necessary in order tomaintain, improve, or rapidly reestablish installation mission assurance and mission-essentialfunctions
The Department has been and will continue to be proactive in developing comprehensive
policy, guidance, and tools to ensure installation resilience, with a focus on robust infrastructure,sound land management policies, and increased energy and climate resilience.

Climate Change
To successfully execute the DoD mission, the Military Departments must have theenergy, land, air, and water resources necessary to train and operate in a world adversely
impacted by a changing climate. Additionally, the Department must build in climate resilience
into our formations, equipment, human capital, and all enabling energy, water andcommunications systems.
Climate change is already negatively impacting the Department’s missions. Frommelting Arctic sea ice and thawing permafrost, to wildfires, hurricanes, drought, and sea levelrise, the impacts of climate change on the operational environment are placing significant
demands on our forces, and our interagency and international partners.
Severe weather related events at Tyndall AFB, Offutt AFB, and Camp Lejeune over the
past five years are sober reminders of the catastrophic effects that climate change can have on the1

Department’s missions. These events, including the recent degrading effects of Winter StormUri, are representative of the climate-changed weather conditions we can expect in the future.
Climate change impacts can affect sources of supplies, equipment, vehicles, and weaponssystems as well as their distribution and storage. Environmental Justice considerations requirethat training and testing, as well as acquisition actions, are not disproportionately impacting low
income and/or minority populations (EO 13985 and EO 13990). Risks and opportunities will becoordinated through the updated DoD Environmental Justice Strategy to be developed per EO
14008.
As the National Climate Assessment makes clear, continued growth in greenhouse gas
emissions along the current trend risks “unanticipated changes and impacts, some of which arepotentially large and irreversible.” (Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol 1)
In other words, we need to act now to ensure climate change effects do not outpace
mitigation efforts. The Department of Defense, by the nature of our national security role,
manages risk. The evidence is clear: we must act deliberately today to avoid untenable risk in
the future.
Given the current trajectory, these demands are likely to increase. According to recent,authoritative, and actionable science, the effects of climate change will outpace mitigation efforts
at least for the next 20-50 years. To avoid unmanageable effects impacting mission, we must
begin mitigation now at the same time we are adapting to observed and reasonably foreseeableclimate changes.
Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, identifies
climate change as a national security issue and directs the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), incoordination with inter-agency stakeholders, to submit to the President, an analysis of the
security implications of climate change (Climate Risk Analysis) that can be incorporated intomodeling, simulation, war-gaming, and other analyses.
EO 14008 further directs the SECDEF and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS)
to consider the security implications of climate change, inclusive of Climate Risk Analysis
findings, in developing the National Defense Strategy, Defense Planning Guidance, Chairman’s
Risk Assessment, and other relevant strategy, planning, and programming documents andprocesses.
EO 14008 Section 211 directs the head of each agency to submit a draft Climate Action
Plan to the National Climate Task Force and the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer that
describes steps the agency can take with regard to its facilities and operations to bolster
adaptation and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change. The Plan focuses on climatechange adaptation in accordance with the Interim Instructions for Preparing Draft Climate Action
Plans Under Executive Order 14008, released by the Council on Environmental Quality on 3
March 2021, and subsequent instructions.

2The Department’s Plan is almost complete and will be submitted on 27 May 2021. The
plan integrates climate considerations across the full spectrum of our activities to ensure a readyand capable force. It complements the DoD Sustainability Report and Implementation Plan(SRIP), which addresses greenhouse gas reduction, real property management, fleet andmobility, sustainable procurement, and electronics stewardship and data centers.
Climate Action Plan – Climate Literate Workforce
DoD Senior Leaders are tasked with translating abstract climate hazards to address
meaningful emerging risks and to identify gaps in existing knowledge and staff capacities.
Building climate literacy and capability in the workforce appropriate for different functional
areas will enable the Department to identify and address climate readiness actions across theirareas of responsibility and successfully carry out the mission in an era of rapidly changing
climatic conditions.
By focusing on climate literacy, the Department will ensure that climate change
considerations and impacts are factored into all relevant and applicable DoD decisions. Whilesome experts must know how to assess scientifically credible information about climate andcommunicate about climate and climate change in a meaningful way to support decision-makers,other staff will receive climate literacy training appropriate for their functions
The Department is committed to integrating climate change literacy into all its training
and education efforts, from skill-specific military education to graduate training in the war
colleges. This includes activities related to developing, acquiring, fielding, sustaining equipment
and services, and installation practitioners. For example, installation management teams should
attain climate literacy levels to support their risk-informed and responsible decisions.
Climate Action Plan – Understanding Climate Vulnerabilities
A key component of the Climate Action Plan task is a description of each agency’s
climate vulnerabilities, particularly in the area of installation, building and facility energy, andwater efficiency. In mid-Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Environment and Energy Resilience chose to proceed with the development of the
DoD Climate Assessment Tool (DCAT), a Department- wide, screening-level climate hazard
assessment tool based on an existing geospatial tool developed by the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers (USACE) for the Department of Army (Office of the Assistant Secretary for the Army
for Installations, Energy, and Environment).
The DCAT relies on the best available data and model outputs already produced andprocessed into forms amenable for producing actionable assessments of future climate exposure
to eight hazards: coastal flooding, riverine flooding, heat, drought, energy demand, landdegradation, wildfire, and historical extreme weather events. It includes customizable reports thatcan be used to prioritize installations for further, more detailed study of exposure, sensitivity, andadaptive capacity (ESAC); support effective and efficient planning; and identify climate
resilience measures.

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With the release of the DoD Climate Assessment Tool (DCAT), DoD now has thecapability to quantify and compare installation exposure to climate hazards out into the future.
On April 22, 2021 the Department published a report entitled “DoD Installation Exposure to
Climate Change at Home and Abroad” which provides analysis of installation exposure toclimate change hazards at over 1400 installations at home and abroad.
This assessment helps identify the climate hazards to which DoD installations are most
exposed, which is the first step in addressing the potential physical harm, security impacts, anddegradation in readiness resulting from global climate change. Assessing the sensitivity of an
installation to its climate hazard exposure is the next step, followed by identifying measures toreduce exposure and sensitivity. Information in this report, combined with other DoD data andanalytical results, will be used to support that Climate Risk Analysis.

Building Installation and Range Resiliency
The Department incorporates climate resilience as a cross-cutting consideration for ourplanning and decision-making processes, and not as a separate program or specific set of actions.
Specifically, the Department considers resilience in the installation planning and basing
processes. This includes consideration of environmental vulnerabilities in installation masterplanning, management of natural resources, design and construction standards, utility systems
and service, as well as emergency management operations.
The DoD has a worldwide footprint – almost 3 million military and civilian personnel,
more than 26 million acres, and over 603,385 facilities encompassing more than 2.2 billion
square feet and valued at more than $1,210 billion (B); many of which serve specialized,
mission-critical purposes. These assets are distributed across the Services (Army, Air Force,
Navy, Marine Corps, and Space Force) and numerous DoD agencies, each with distinct
operations.
The Department’s installations remain critical components of its ability to fight and win
wars. Our warfighters cannot do their job without bases from which to fight, on which to train, orin which to live when they are not deployed. Our installations support our families – many ofwhom live there and all of whom use their support services. The bottom line is that installations
support our military readiness. To ensure that our installations are prepared to support thedefense of this nation, the Department takes a broad, systemic approach that considers climate
and man-made threats to built and natural infrastructure. Not only must we ensure that facilities
themselves are resilient in the face of a range of threats, but we must also ensure that thesurrounding land, water, and airspace can support mission-essential activities.
Since 2010, DoD has developed a comprehensive set of policies, directives, and plans tomanage the effects of climate change on its operations, missions, and facilities. The Department
has a comprehensive approach to building climate-ready installations. This approach considers
resilience in installation planning: installation master planning, installation energy planning(IEP), management of natural resources, design and construction standards, utility systems andservice, and emergency management operations.
4Facilities
Regarding the built environment, the Department pursues resilience through applicationof its building codes in both installation planning, and design and construction of individual
facilities. The Department updates these building codes, collectively known as Unified Facilities
Criteria and Unified Facilities Guide Specifications, on a regular basis to reflect revised industry
and federal standards. As building technologies improve and data from natural disasters
increases over time, these standards become more stringent towards protecting life and property
in these types of events.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 amended 10 USC
Section 2864 to require that installation master plans address risks and threats to installation
resilience, including those from climate change. The Department’s September 2020 update to
UFC 2-100-01, Installation Master Planning directs installations to incorporate climate
resilience analysis in master planning activities to ensure mission sustainment over the intended
lifespan of infrastructure and assets. The UFC also provides instruction on the use of climate
scenario planning, and refers to the DoD Climate Assessment Tool (DCAT) and the DoD
Regional Sea Level Database (DRSL). To aid in implementation, the Military Departments
have established handbooks to support installation staff as they incorporate climate change into
installation planning.
Outputs from the Department’s forthcoming Climate Risk Analysis and Climate Action
Plan will be used to further inform and update the Department’s installation master planning
efforts. In master planning for effects of climate change, the Department is taking a broad andholistic approach. For example, sea walls might reduce risks on an installation, however,
without considerations for managing local circulation effects, they could result in induced
flooding elsewhere. Additionally planning and design of built and natural infrastructure mustassess the effects of infrastructure projects on local areas to avoid disproportionate impacts to
low income and minority communities.
The challenge to maintain present built and natural infrastructure into the future will varydepending on location, climate hazard exposure, and sensitivity of missions and operations.
Improving understanding of infrastructure components and ecosystems is critical.
Information about how natural ecosystems contribute to ecosystem services and climate
resilience, and how they overlap with the built environment provide insight into how to design
better solutions that account for the condition and benefits of the whole system. For example, as
we have previously reported, coastal ecosystems—including wetlands, marshes, andmangroves—may shield communities from the impacts of climate change.
Planning for future infrastructure and new DoD installations can also take decades. The
DoD’s global property holdings are worth nearly $1.2 trillion (DoD 2020b). As the frequency of
extreme weather events has increased, the DoD must consider the related risks and make wise
investment decisions to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather on the DoD’s mission.

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Recent updates to Unified Facilities Criteria to incorporate forward-looking projectionsof climate-related data into its planning and design criteria include the following:•

UFC 3-201-01, Civil Engineering. Includes sections on minimum design flood elevationand flood mitigation requirements, flood resistant design options, and flood protection
systems. Establishes a technical approach for using the DoD Regional Sea Level
Database at coastal installations to determine future inundated areas, future floodplains,and design flood elevations.

•

UFC 3-201-02, Landscape Architecture. Directs all DoD projects to design plantings forclimate resiliency. States DoD projects must consider potential climate change effects
and address the effects through strategic land use planning, modifications, and designinterventions.

•

UFC 1-200-02, High Performance and Sustainable Building Requirements. Requiresthat new building designs are “responsive to any Government-provided projections ofclimate change and determination of acceptable risk.” Directs DoD Components to
identify and implement operations and maintenance policies that improve the climate
resiliency of facilities and operations.
Related Unified Facilities Criteria updates for extreme events include the following:•

UFC 3-301-01, Structural Engineering. Provides design load combinations fordesigning structural components that are sensitive to vertical earthquake ground motion.

•

UFC 3-400-02, Engineering Weather Data. Directs installation planners to request
engineering weather data from Air Force’s 14th Weather Squadron that focuses on
climatic variables of temperature, humidity, precipitation, and winds.

Environmental Conservation and Compatible Development
The Department’s lands and waters are vital to readiness. As training, testing, andoperational requirements expand and new weapons systems are introduced, access and use ofranges becomes increasingly important. Managing for healthy and resilient natural landscapes,
such as reducing fire risks, avoiding wildlife conflicts, removing invasive species, and improving
range and training areas, provides the conditions necessary for mission-essential activities.
This includes opportunities to maintain and improve “natural infrastructure,”
implementing solutions outside installation boundaries to enhance the benefits provided bynatural systems. Natural infrastructure solutions encompasses a wide range of possible actions
that can help promote installation resilience and preserve access to critical installation and range
assets and capabilities.
For example: restoring historical hydrology (e.g., wetlands and coastal marshes) can help
reduce flooding impacts on coastal infrastructure; reestablishing oyster reefs and restoring
shoreline and dune vegetation can help reduce impacts of storm surge on low-lying installations;
restoring high-value habitat can enhance wildlife corridors for threatened, endangered, or at-risk
6species and avoid or mitigate regulatory restrictions on training, testing, and operations; andremoving vegetation and managing fuel loads can minimize wildfire risk to infrastructure,
personnel, and operations.
To assist installations in developing plans to manage the evolving natural resources
challenges, the DoD worked with the National Wildlife Federation to develop planning guidance– “Climate Adaptation for DoD Natural Resource Managers.” The guide, published in June
2019, provides an overview of how a changing climate may affect military lands and otherresources, and outlines a process to incorporate adaptation strategies into Integrated Natural
Resource Management Plans (INRMP).
Two key programs that are facilitating the Department’s sustainment efforts are theReadiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI) and the Sentinel
Landscapes Program.
Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI) – The REPI
program preserves test, training, and operational capabilities that enable readiness, strengthens
strategic partnerships, and supports test, training, and operational capability. The REPI program
stimulates innovative and diverse partnerships between local communities and military
installations that increase collaboration and promote installation resilience. Partnershipagreements provide installation commanders, trainers, testers, and operators with increased
mission flexibility by preventing, mitigating, or removing restrictions that can result from nearby
incompatible development. In the last 16 years, REPI partnerships have protected more than
586,000 acres of land around 106 installations in 33 states.
In FY 2019, the Department was provided expanded authority under 10 U.S.C. 2684a tospecifically address military installation resilience as a key element of the REPI program. Thisauthority further enhances the REPI program’s ability to engage in collaborative land protection
and natural resource management activities to help installations avoid, prepare for, minimize theeffect of, adapt to, and recover from extreme weather events, or from anticipated orunanticipated changes in environmental conditions.
Sentinel Landscapes Program – The Sentinel Landscapes Program coordinates between
DoD, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of the Interior (DOI). This
coalition of federal agencies, state governments, local communities, and private conservation
organizations works to advance shared land-use goals around military bases.
The program works closely to identify landscapes across the country where all three
missions of the federal agencies—promoting sustainable agricultural and forestry rural lands,
strengthening national defense, and building community resilience to climate change—intersect.
Once identified, the three agencies coordinate to target their various conservation programs toproperties within these priority areas. Each project site, or “sentinel landscape” has beenremarkably successful in collaborating across agricultural, defense, and conservation sectors totackle complex issues related to water quantity and quality, imperiled species habitat, andwildfire mitigation.

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Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation
Many states and communities across the country support the mission of the DoD.
Through its Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC), the Department isleveraging the capabilities of state and local partners through grants and technical assistance toenhance the readiness of its installations and ranges, and to deliver safe places for its members
and their families where capabilities in DoD do not otherwise exist.
OLDCC’s program portfolio is comprised of over 200 separate grants, exceeding $1.3
billion. Recently through its Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP), OLDCC has
funded projects to support communities serving Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and Joint Region
Marianas, at Tinian. These projects are improving community utility infrastructure which in turnis strengthening the resilience of the strategic support area serving the bases. In the NDAA for
FY2021, Congress amended 10 USC Section 2391 to enhance DCIP’s ability to facilitate
investments in community infrastructure projects that bolster military installation resilience. Aspart of its holistic approach, the Department is continuing to explore ways to use the DCIP
program to enhance its internal climate and energy resilience approach.

Research
DoD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Develop Program (SERDP) and
Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) invest in research focusedon improving DoD understanding of environmental and climate related risks to installations andmission. DoD uses the SERDP and ESTCP programs to validate and fund sustainable design
initiatives and cutting-edge clean energy technologies that can reduce DoD’s vulnerability to
climate change and increase resilience to unavoidable impacts. The following are a few
examples of SERDP research efforts related to infrastructure and climate resiliency:In response to coastal threats associated with rising sea level, SERDP initiated the DoDled Coastal Assessment Regional Scenario Working Group and developed the DoD
Regional Sea Level Database (DRSL) to provide authoritative, scenario driven sea levelchange information relevant to each coastal installation. The DRSL is now publicly
available so that contracted third parties (e.g., engineering firms), can use the future sea
level change information for coastal installation and facilities planning. This availability
is critical since DoD installation master planning standards and civil engineering design
standards now incorporate DRSL information into installation planning.

In response to drought risk, SERDP initiated a study to understand and assess
environmental vulnerabilities on installations in the desert southwest. This research seeks
to detect and assess drought response of sensitive riparian forests to drought stress overrecent decades and will be carried out within three DoD bases in the Southwest, withwidely applicable results.

In response to wildfire risk, SERDP developed a Fire Science Strategy in 2014 focusedon the following: improved characterization, monitoring, modeling, and mapping of fuels8to support enhanced smoke management and fire planning at DoD installations; enhanced
smoke management using advanced monitoring and modeling approaches; and research
to quantify, model, and monitor post-fire effects.


SERDP and ESTCP investments seek to understand changes to the Arctic terrestrial
environment relevant to DoD infrastructure. Permafrost degradation can impact soil,
vegetation, buildings, roads, and airfields. SERDP and ESTCP investments are leading
to tools for making Arctic infrastructure more “aware” of permafrost changes before
costly failures occur. An example is Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s fiberoptic geophysical sensing package capable of providing real-time information on
subsurface conditions relevant to infrastructure performance and failure in Arctic
environments.

Traditionally, the Department has been challenged in transferring clean energy technologies
from the SERDP and ESTCP programs over the “valley of death” from concept to programs ofrecord. The Department is revitalizing efforts to facilitate technology transfer through directed
programs such as the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program (ERCIP), as wellas third-party financed authorities.

Energy Programs
Unlike the Department’s MilCon and Environmental Remediation programs, where thebudget request includes specific line items, our energy programs are subsumed across otheraccounts.
Energy Resilience Policies, Programs, and Tools
As defined in Section 101 of Title 10, energy resilience is the “ability to avoid, prepare for,minimize, adapt to, and recover from anticipated and unanticipated energy disruptions in order toensure energy availability and reliability sufficient to provide for mission assurance andreadiness, including mission essential operations related to readiness, and to execute or rapidly
reestablish mission essential requirements.”
The Department utilizes a portfolio of appropriated and third party financed programs topursue energy resilience. These programs are governed by key instructions and policies toensure warfighter requirements are addressed holistically and in a prioritized and cost effective
manner.
Policies and Programs
The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment (ASD(S)) provides
policy and oversight to the military departments and defense agencies that align to the energy
resilience requirements of Title 10 and Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 4170.11,
Installation Energy Management. The Department implements policies through critical
initiatives, such as installation energy planning, energy resilience assessments, and black start9

exercises. The Department also pursues partnerships with other agencies, such as the
Department of Energy.
Department of Defense Instruction 4170.11, Installation Energy Management –This formal policy provides guidance, assigns responsibilities, and prescribes procedures
for all DoD installation energy management activities to include energy and climate resilience
requirements. It is currently being rewritten to further strengthen the role of installation energyplans and the inclusion of energy resilience, climate and cybersecurity provisions.
Installation Energy Plans –Through the Installation Energy Planning (IEP) process, military installations are tasked
with identifying mission critical loads, assessing energy resilience and cybersecurity gaps, anddeveloping scalable and cost effective solutions to close those gaps. The Services are finishing
IEPs for priority mission installations and are submitting plans for top energy consuming
installations by the end of FY21. All remaining installations are targeted for completion by theend of FY22.
The Department’s IEP framework is being enhanced to address the short, medium, andlong-term impacts of climate change. Specifically, climate scenario planning, using the DoD
Climate Assessment Tool (DCAT) and the DoD Regional Sea Level Database (DRSL), is
informing the Department’s Installation Master Planning and Installation Energy Planning (IEP)
processes. Additionally, the IEP process is being reviewed to potentially integrate climate
objectives and weighting factors such as GHG reduction, the social cost of carbon, andenvironmental justice in its decision-making calculus.
In the IEP process installations leverage a portfolio of energy authorities and technology
solutions to close critical energy and climate resilience gaps. As part of its climate adaptationand mitigation efforts, the Department is seeking ways to increase the use of clean energy andother GHG reducing solutions in its pursuit of energy resilience. Presently, more than 15% of
the electricity used by DoD facilities is from renewable sources, and DoD is the largest producerof onsite renewable energy in the federal government.
The intermittency of clean energy technologies has historically presented a challenge interms of closing energy resilience gaps identified in the IEP process. The Department is“moving the needle forward” by exploring ways to integrate renewables with other technologies(i.e., micro-grids, battery energy storage, etc.) to overcome these challenges. IEPs are “living
documents”, and the Department will update them frequently to incorporate advancements inclean energy technologies and battery storage.
Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program (ERCIP) –ERCIP is a subset of the Defense-Wide Military Construction Program, specificallyintended to fund projects that improve energy resilience, contribute to mission assurance, save10

energy, and reduce DoD’s energy costs. ERCIP accomplishes these goals through constructionof new, high-efficiency energy systems or through modernizing existing energy systems.
The ERCIP program has executed over 511 high priority projects from FY09-21 including theimplementation of micro-grids, renewable energy generation (i.e., solar PV, solar thermal, wind,etc.) building efficiency enhancements, and utility distribution improvements [~$900M+
portfolio].
For example, at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar the ERCIP programfacilitated the implementation of an installation level micro-grid which enables the base tooperate during disruptions to the commercial grid. The base has a power plant with both diesel
and natural gas generation to supplement existing landfill gas and solar power, providing a totalof 11.2 MW of on-site power generation. Additionally, a new energy and water operations center
was built to consolidate the microgrid control system with other utility management systems at
the air station.
The Department is exploring ways to better integrate ERCIP with broader climate andmodernization initiatives (including technology transfer). Additionally, as part of the NDAA for
FY2021, congress has provided the authority to use ERCIP with other funding sources such as
Energy Savings Performance Contracts and Utilities Privatization.
Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC)/Utility Energy Savings Contracts (UESC) –DoD seeks opportunities to enhance energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption aspart of its efforts to strengthen energy resilience. Energy efficiency bolsters installation energy
resilience by helping reduce the energy demand from distributed energy production resources
during commercial grid disruptions. Energy efficiency is also a practical way that the DoD is
reducing its carbon footprint in alignment with the tenets of EO14008, the Energy Act of 2020,
the Federal Sustainability Framework, and broader DoD climate mitigation goals.
The Department continues to utilize performance contracting (i.e., ESPCs/UESCs) as asignificant part of its efforts to enhance energy resilience through energy efficiency.
For example, through an ESPC at Marine Corps Recruitment Depot (MCRD) Parris
Island the Marine Corps has enhanced readiness through the installation of a 3.5 megawatt
combined heat and power plant (CHPP), 6.7 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels withintegrated energy storage, and a microgrid control system. Built above the flood zone, the CHPP
is less susceptible to hurricanes, storms and sea level rise. Implementation of clean energy
technologies and other equipment upgrades will reduce energy consumption by 88% and water
consumption by 25%. Based in part to savings from the ESPC, MCRD Parris Island decreased
its electricity purchased from the commercial grid by more than 50% in FY20 compared to
FY19.
Additionally, in July 2019, the Navy awarded its largest ever ESPC to Naval Station
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to build a new power plant, improve resiliency and reliability, increase
efficiency, and add renewable generation to this self-sufficient critical installation. The project11

will provide 12 MW of solar photovoltaic energy generation, battery energy storage, water andsewer improvements, major building system upgrades, and a dual-fuel (F76 fuel oil andLiquefied Natural Gas) Combined Cycle Power Plant. Annual savings for this ESPC are
expected to reach nearly 4 million BTUs and 1 million gallons of water.
Since 2011 the Department has awarded over $5.1B in performance contracts and its
portfolio is the largest in the federal government. Due in large part to efficiencies from thesecontracts, the Department has also achieved an energy intensity reduction of 20.9% from FY
2003 to 2019, contributing to GHG reductions.
In furtherance of its forthcoming Climate Action Plan and in alignment of the Installation
Energy Planning process, the Department is posturing itself for further performance contracting
investments in FY2022 and beyond. The Department’s efforts will be informed and enabled by
the Energy Act of 2020.
10 USC 2912 Energy Cost Savings –The Military Services continue to leverage authority granted under 10 U.S.C. Section
2912 to retain amounts equal to energy cost savings in order to fund additional energy resilience,
energy efficiency, and installation quality of life projects. In FY2019 and FY2020, the Military
Departments piloted efforts to retain $115M in installation energy cost savings using theauthority. Presently, the Military Departments are piloting efforts to utilize funds pursuant to thestatute and DoD financial regulations.
Other Alternative Financing Authorities –The Department continues to leverage other alternative financing authorities toimplement energy resilient, climate-ready and cyber-secure solutions. These include, but are notlimited to, power purchase agreements (PPAs), enhanced use leases (EULs), and utilities
privatization (UP), when supported by the business case and/or IEP.
For example, at Edwards AFB, the Department is moving forward on an 800 megawatt
renewable energy project that could be one of the largest solar arrays in the country, and would
be the largest in the DoD. The Air Force estimates the project could provide power for an
average of 238,000 homes in California, and could yield cash rent consideration up to $80
million throughout the expected 35-year enhanced use lease.
Micro-reactor Demonstration –As directed in the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the Department of
Defense is seeking to demonstrate a commercially developed, Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) licensed, very Small Modular Reactor (vSMR) to power critical loads at a permanent
domestic military installation by December 2027. An RFP for the pilot base currently underdevelopment, to be issued this year; planned selection of a vendor by 2022 to demonstrate a
micro-reactor on a DoD (Air Force) installation by 2027. Industry is making steady progress indeveloping advanced micro-reactors with the potential to enhance installation resilience through12

assured access to power in support of critical missions and remote operations. The Department
will use the proposed demonstration to assess the energy resilience capability and the costeffectiveness of vSMR technology.
Exercises and Tools
To facilitate the implementation of energy resilience policy, the Department is utilizing exercises
and analysis tools to continually improve our approach.
Black Start Exercises (BSEs) –In accordance with U.S. Code Title 10 Section 2911 and DoD instruction 4170.11, theDepartment is performing BSEs to evaluate energy resilience risks to readiness while completely
separated from the commercial electric grid. Since 2015, the Department has conducted over 35
site-level energy resilience assessments, tabletop exercises, and black start exercises toimplement its policies. The lessons learned from these initiatives have been used to develop
Department-wide policies and procedures to drive behavioral and cultural awareness for
installation personnel and energy managers.
To ensure the readiness of its installations, the Department routinely conducts statutory“black start exercises” where installations are disconnected from the wider power grid todetermine the resilience of on-site power generation. These black start exercises were completed
at Fort Stewart, Fort Greely, Fort Bragg, Hanscom AFB, Vandenberg AFB, Joint Base McGuireDix-Lakehurst, and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. BSEs identify critical energy
vulnerabilities and interdependencies that could degrade critical missions, assess latent risks in
an installations energy resilience posture, and inform the development of appropriate mitigations.
Cyber Secure Facilities
Given the importance of energy resilient facilities as nodes for projecting and sustaining power,
the Department is reducing the cyber risks to facility related control systems (FRCS). Buildingon the July 2018 Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandum, Enhancing Cybersecurity Risk
Management for Control Systems (CS) Supporting DoD Owned Defense Critical Infrastructure,
my office has integrated the cyber security of industrial control systems into energy policies andguidance.
The Department is developing internal requirements for ‘inside the fence’ as well as
requirements for external partners ‘outside the fence’ to be cyber-secure and cyber-resilient. For
example, military installations are including cyber security considerations in the development of
their installation energy plans, and FRCS considerations are now required for utility privatizationagreements, ESPCs, and UESCs.
We will continue to work with the Department’s Chief Information Officer and Principal Cyber
Advisor toward solutions and resources ensuring FRCS are defensible, survivable, and resilient
to operate and sustain critical functions in a cyber-contested environment. My office also plans13

to incorporate relevant and timely FRCS cybersecurity requirements in our forthcoming rewriteof DoDI 4170.11

Conclusion
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Department’s efforts to build resilient and climate
ready installations. Your continued support of Department of Defense’s mission and for our
military members and their families is appreciated.

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