Cummins Inc. (CMI), Raytheon Company (RTN): Close Ties Exist Between Oil, Syria & U.S. Military Casualties

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You know that saving energy saves money, but did you know that it could literally save lives?

Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, began a fascinating recent article for Foreign Policy magazine thus:

With domestic oil production up, imports declining, and new oil and gas reserves being discovered, some question whether energy remains, or ever was, a security challenge and military vulnerability for the United States. The rise in oil prices back over $100 per barrel in the wake of Egypt’s political turmoil provides a sobering answer.

As if to highlight his point, the devastation unfolding right now in Syria has pushed oil prices even higher. At the time of writing, the WTI Crude Oil price was above $109 per barrel .

Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI)

Energy efficiency saves Marines
In his article, Mabus also highlighted a 2011  Marine Corps study that revealed that in Afghanistan, one Marine was killed or injured for every 50 convoys that ran during the worst of the fighting. The study noted that improvised explosive devices disrupted one out of 17 of these convoys.

How are convoys and the price of oil related? Well, 70% of logistical support to onshore Marine Corps forces goes to fuel and water. Further still, the Marine Corps’ fuel consumption has skyrocketed. Today’s infantry company – an element of 125 to 150 Marines – uses more fuel than did an entire infantry battalion – 900 to 1,000 Marines – 12 years ago. About 60% of the fuel Marines burn is for climate control for equipment and personnel.  Secretary Mabus connects the dots: “[C]utting fuel means fewer convoys and fewer casualties.”

The new arms race
All branches of the military are making serious strides in adopting renewable energy, investing substantial amounts of money and pledging aggressive new energy-mix targets to diversify away from foreign fossil fuels. However, these developments are not without formidable opponents.

Last Fall, Congressional Republicans proposed legislation that would have prohibited the Pentagon from buying any fuels that cost more than their traditional fossil-fuel counterparts . Sources close to defense procurement see the influence of oil and gas companies behind some of these efforts . While those efforts have subsided for the time being, the argument that renewable energy spending is a “New Obama Stimulus” endures.

Perhaps that explains why Secretary Mabus’ Foreign Policy article feels like a salvo. In the face of the politically powerful argument that the military’s new energy priorities are just a waste of taxpayer money designed to prop up a faltering liberal agenda, Mabus counters with another politically powerful argument: that we can count the cost of opposition in the denomination of dead Marines. It looks like Mabus has decided to take this fight head on.

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