# OPERATION FREE

Heavy-Duty Vehicle Fuel E conomy and G lob a l Warming E mi ss ion s Standards EPA/DOT Hearin gs- Draft Te stimony

Thank yo u for a ll owing me the opportunity to testify befo r e yo u o n t h e proposed stan dards for the new EPA regulations on medium a nd heavy-d u ty tru ck gre e nhou se gas e mi ss ions and fu e l effici e n cy s tandards. M y name is Glenn Kunkel and I am a veteran of t he United States Marine Corps and a membe r of Operatio n Free, a nation w id e coa lition of more than 5,0 00 veterans who a dvo cate for securing America w ith cl ean e n ergy . I applaud the Obama administratio n f or proposing standard s that wi ll make our trucks cl eaner a n d more efficient. I joined th e military because I ca r e deeply about our nation' s sec urity and s tability

. I am here today because a long with a co n sens u s of senio r military and national sec urity experts, I believe t hat we face a serio us threat to our national security: dependency o n oi l. During my se rvic e in Ira q, as an advisor to the Iraqi Army, the logi stics of fuel consumption were pivotal to our capabilities and security posture

. The nature of the vehicles ne e ded to establish tactica l dominance were ineffici e nt for sust a ined operations in a ny environment, l e t alone a ho stil e e nvironment

. This para ll e ls th e eco nomic nec ess iti es of our nation , in that s u c h a vast portion of goods a r e transported by tr uck. Just as we took num erou s steps in Ira q to conserve a nd stretch our resourc es in order to acco mpli s h our mission , similar steps s hould b e taken to preserve a nd bolster the tra n s portation industry' s efficie n cy to the point that our economic stability is less threatened. By mitigating our consumption of petroleum based fuels we a lso mitigate a number of di s ruptions to our domestic sec urity and stability

. Such as the amount of C02 that that is disp e rs e d in the atmosphere, and the resulting disruptions caused b y increasingly seve r e weather patterns. Another is the financial capabilitie s of globally-capable extremist groups, which often require US intervention. Most importa ntly , a cleaner, more s ustainable and e fficient United States is going to h ave to b e es tablish e d in order to m a intain our current global posture, both in sec urity capabiliti es as well as in economic stability. [Insert your persona l reason for testifying. Use exa mple s from your military experience or current positio n to show w hy you think reducing oi l use and car bon em issions from trucks is important. Thi s n arrat ive w ill make your testim ony memorable.] Although trucks are on l y 7% of the tota l number of vehi cl es o n the roads, they co nsum e 25% of fuel. Thi s marks a s ignifi can t percent of emissions re lative to the number of trucks on th e road. With these n ew r egulations, we wi ll save 1.8 b illi on

# OPERATION FREE

barrels of oil over the lif etime of the vehicles on the ro ad-a n importa nt s tep in combatting oil dep endency. Currentl y, o il is essentia l for the military to defend u s. Everythi ng from tanks to fighter j e ts to Humvees u se oil, and d e li ve ring it on the battlefie ld is a d a ngerous job. In Afgha ni stan, 1 in every 24 fuel convoys e nded with a casualty; oi l trade routes s lo w, sc heduled , and freque nt, m a kin g them easy targets for the en e my . These rule s benefit the military because trucks wo n 't h ave to refuel as freque ntly , w h ich can be dangerous a nd costl y in co mbat zo nes. Additionally, too much of our mon ey for oil e n ds up in the hand s of hostil e cou ntri es a nd extremi st fighters

. Th ere are economic prob lems with oi l, too. Global supply cannot kee p up with demand. The price will kee p going up , hitting all of us at the pump. With this rule , vehicle owners w ill save an average o f $17 0 billion in fuel costs over t h e lif etime of the ve hicles so ld. In c r eas ing truck efficiency saves money, which will be r e flected in t h e price of co n sumer goods. Furthermore, when the price of oil spikes, t h e military must r e purpose funds away from trainin g, maintenance , and readine ss programs t o offset the cost, puttin g mi ssio ns a t risk.
Additionally, the u se of fossil fuels increases the like lih ood of more troops se nt into ha rm' s way. As the D e p a rtment of D e f

e n se's recent R e port on Nationa l Security Implications of Climate- Re lated Ri s ks and a Changin g Climate affirm s, c lim ate change is wi dely recognized as a "threat-multip li er." Frequent and severe weather eve n ts destabi li ze some of the wor ld 's m os t d a ngerous r egions

. Thi s exacerbate s existi ng natio nal security threats by pushing a lready unstable states to n ea r con stant crisis

. Th e United States is r eq u es te d to re s pond to disa sters e very two weeks-a numb e r like ly to increase as th e impacts of cl imate change become more ac ute. While these new EPA regulations m a ke great strid es to mi tigate the imp acts of carbon emiss ion s-s uc h as reducing G H

G emiss ion s by 1 bi ll ion metric ton s over the lif e of vehicles on the road -w e must take furth e r m eas ures to reduce our oil depend e n cy in the inte r es t of nation al sec urity. Ana lys is s hows that with modern e ngi neering capabiliti es, s tronger sta nd ards could reduce trucks' fue l u se by 40 % by 2025. Continued p rogress in environmental s tandards made by t h e EPA are vita l to the we ll -bei ng of our nation a nd the g loba l commu ni ty. In r ais in g our standards for gree nh ouse gas e mission s a nd fue l e ffi cie n cy, we str e n gth en our nati o na l security by s upporting th e U.S

. eco nomy, in c reas ing g lob a l stab ili ty, a nd se ndin g fewer of our men and women into h arm' s way. Once aga in, I app laud th e a dmini strati on for proposing sta ndard s to make o ur tru cks more efficient. Thank you f o r th e op p or tuni ty to testify today

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