by Seth Koenig
October 8, 2009
Original Story

BATH — Former Fox News military analyst and Vietnam veteran Donald Edwards is scheduled to visit Bath today to rally support for a clean energy bill making its way through the U.S. Senate.

Edwards, a retired Army major general, agreed to join Iraq war veterans Garrett Reppenhagen and Alex Cornell du Houx for a press conference at Bath City Hall this morning. Reppenhagen is the director of Veterans Green Jobs, while Cornell du Houx is a Democrat representing a portion of Brunswick in the Maine House of Representatives.

“I think it’s vitally important for our national security that we pass some form of climate change legislation,” said Cornell du Houx, a Bowdoin College graduate. “When I was deployed, we saw — literally — cars lined up bumper to bumper waiting for days to get fuel. It was because they were so reliant on one form of energy. It hit me that I never want to see the United States reach a point where we’re that reliant on one form of energy.”

Edwards, a South Bristol resident, points to his experience as a military leader as a key basis for urging passage of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which was introduced in the Senate last week.

Edwards told The Times Record he recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit with veterans from the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like Cornell du Houx, those younger veterans told him the country’s dependence on foreign oil leaves them vulnerable to the perils that accompany U.S. involvement in military conflicts overseas.

“I give these young folks a great deal of credit,” Edwards said. “Their perception is, and it’s incredibly accurate, that we buy trillions of dollars in fossil fuels and that money goes to places like Saudi Arabia, where it get funneled to extremists who are shooting at us and killing Americans.”

“Their logic, to me, is unassailable,” he continued. “They’re talking about the fact that with these convoys that are going into Afghanistan, a lot of what they’re convoying are petroleum products. They’re facing the risk of those things getting hit with (roadside bombs) and blowing up in their faces. They were asking questions like, ‘General, why aren’t we using generators that are state-of-the-art and not using fossil fuels?’ I can’t answer that. It’s very, very real to those guys and it’s something that should wake us up in terms of a sense of urgency. We owe these people. They’re off getting wounded by terrorists who are being funded by fossil fuel money.”

The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act includes aggressive greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals of 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Among its provisions, the legislation sets aside money to train workers in renewable energy professions. It also contains incentives to increase public transit options and upgrade heavy trucks used for shipping.

“I think it’s an ice breaker,” Edwards said of the bill. “With a lot of these things, once you get it started, you can build on the momentum. But you’ve got to get it started. I think this bill is a huge first step. And I think five or 10 years down the road there will be other steps.”

Added Cornell du Houx: “Within the national security community, whenever we talk about the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, everyone I talk to immediately sees the link between our reliance on oil and national security and climate change.”