Forbes Slams 'Green' Navy

House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee member Randy Forbes took Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to task, slamming the service's continued investment in alternative fuels, one of Mabus' top priorities for the service.

"I understand that alternative fuels may help our guys in the field, but wouldn't you agree that the thing they'd be more concerned about is having more ships, more planes, more prepositioned stocks," Forbes said during the Friday hearing. "Shouldn't we refocus our priorities and make those things our priorities instead of advancing a biofuels market?" Before Mabus could respond, the Virginia Republican took a clear shot at the secretary: "You're not the secretary of the energy. You're the secretary of the Navy."

Forbes' tirade was not completely unexpected given the fiscal pressures the Navy and the rest of the department are under, according to one congressional source. But Forbes did push the boundaries of opposition to the Navy program, and its leader. "I have never seen Mabus confronted like that before" on the service's alternative energy initiatives, the Hill source said. Members of the Navy's acquisition cadre "cannot not feel frustrated" when they look at the millions poured into biofuels and consider other areas those dollars could have gone toward. "You [could] buy a couple of ships" with those dollars, according to the source.

However, the timing of Forbes' denunciation of the Navy's green plans has more to do with politics than with procurement.

Political disagreements over how the Navy fuels its planes and ships "has a long pedigree" on the House panel, top defense consultant and member of AOL Defense's Board of Contributors Loren Thompson said. "The exchange between Rep. Forbes and Secretary Mabus isn't really about energy. It's about dueling political philosophies," Thompson said.