McALESTER ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT

On 2024-12-20, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) delivered a floor speech titled "McALESTER ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT" in the Senate. The speech addressed the environment and also covered foreign policy, defense. It referenced legislation: S7318.

McALESTER ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT

Congressional Record, Volume 170 Issue 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024) [Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024)] [Senate] [Page S7318] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] McALESTER ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I rise today to express my gratitude to the Armed Services Committee and Energy and Natural Resources Committee for working to include an important provision that passed as part of the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA). The provision is in section 1706, titled ``Use of royalty gas at McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.'' The Department of Defense has issued a charge to ensure that all U.S. military installations are energy resilient by 2035. Under 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2911, the Secretary of Defense is responsible for ``ensur[ing] the readiness of the armed forces for their military missions by pursuing energy security and energy resilience.'' In implementing this section of the U.S. Code, the Department of Defense has pursued a plan to establish microgrids at all military installations, utilizing a diverse array of energy sources to be energy resilient. In FY 2022, the Department of Defense consumed $4.2 billion in fuel for installation energy. Further, natural gas was the largest nonelectric fuel source, used in almost 75 percent of installation energy consumption. As my colleagues know, the purpose of energy resilience is to ensure our military installations are able to continue operations in the event of a local, gridwide, or national energy supply disruption. In 2021, Senate Report 117-39, which accompanied the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016, requested that the Department of Defense review a 2016 analysis of installations with likely gas and oil reserves to provide a recommendation for a pilot site to initiate use of on-site mineral reserves for energy resilience and security purposes. The program aimed to provide the installation with onsite energy production, light refining, storage, and onsite generation to maintain critical operations during grid outages. The report stated that the Department of Defense had an absence of general statutory authority for the Department of Defense to extract and use minerals at installations. The report also includes a list of nearly 150 military installations that are located within 25 miles of the top 100 most productive natural gas and oil reserves in the United States, of which McAlester is one. In order to clarify the authorities necessary for the deployment of natural gas resources for the use of military energy resilience and security, I worked with the Senate Armed Services Committee and Energy and Natural Resources Committee to include section 1706 of the FY25 NDAA. This provision would provide the appropriate authorities for McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, OK, to develop natural gas on the installation for energy resilience purposes. This language would require coordination between the Department of Defense and Department of the Interior to allow McAlester Army Ammunition Plant to produce, treat, manage, and use national gas by contracting with appropriate entities to meet directives from the Department of Defense for energy resiliency. This authority has been years in the making starting from efforts led by Oklahoma's former senior Senator and my friend, the late Jim Inhofe. The language also includes feedback and technical assistance from the Department of Defense, the Bureau of Land Management, multiple committees in the House and Senate, and Senate leadership. There is already precedent for the production and use of natural gas on military installations, as is the case with Fort Knox in Kentucky. The strategic use of energy such as natural gas promotes the readiness of the Armed Forces for their military mission. I urge the Department of Defense to swiftly implement this authority, and I congratulate McAlester on the opportunity to reach energy resiliency and continue the great work they do for our national security. ____________________