With some Republicans targeting military alternative-energy programs as an extravagance in a time of fiscal austerity, House appropriators will get a chance Wednesday to grill the Pentagon's top energy and environment officials.

The Defense Department's energy conservation programs get top-level attention in President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget blueprint, which would invest slightly more than $1 billion in such measures across the department. Most of that, $968 million, would go toward building energy efficiency and management measures, said Dorothy Robyn, deputy undersecretary of Defense for installations and environment.

But DOD's renewable energy efforts, most of which are financed through third parties, face Republican criticism.

At a Feb. 16 hearing on the Navy's budget, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee questioned Navy Secretary Ray Mabus about his plans to produce or purchase 1 gigawatt of renewable power and to transition the fleet to advanced a biofuel blend by 2020 (Greenwire, Feb. 23).

"I understand that alternative fuels may help our guys in the field," Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) told Mabus. "But wouldn't you agree that the things they'd be more concerned about is having more ships, more planes, more pre-positioned stocks ... than what they're having?"

On Wednesday, Robyn and the top energy and environment officials from each of the services will likely face questions from the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee about whether the military is paying more to buy power from renewable sources at the same time that it is absorbing nearly a half-trillion dollars in cuts.

Pentagon guidance requires that renewable electricity projects cost the department no more than they promise to save over their lifetimes, and alternative fuel purchases are also required to be cost-competitive with traditional fuel.

The small quantities of biofuel that the military is buying now to test planes and ships are exempt from the rule, though, since they are considered research and development. In December, the Navy signed a contract to buy 450,000 gallons of advanced biofuel for $12 million -- a move that displeased Republicans.

But Pentagon officials may be spared the full extent of Republicans' frustration over their energy programs, since they are likely to get an earful from both sides of the aisle about DOD's request for a new Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). The same officials who oversee the department's energy and environment programs are also in charge of its military bases.

Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment, has argued that previous BRACs have helped the military cut its energy use by getting rid of energy-hogging buildings. But that position would face challenges from members worried about losing military investments in their home states.

Schedule: The hearing is Wednesday, March 7, at 2 p.m. in H-140 of the Capitol.

Witnesses: Dorothy Robyn, deputy undersecretary of Defense for installations and environment; Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment; Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment; and Terry Yonkers, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics.