Sequestration’s Impact on Air Force Energy Initiatives

Sequestration’s most immediate effect on the Air Force’s energy initiatives is already happening, said Acting Undersecretary of the Air Force Jamie Morin last week. Because sequestration, which went into effect on March 1, compresses a fiscal year’s worth of spending cuts into seven months, “we’ve had to absolutely stand on the brakes in terms of vital facility investments” related to energy efficiency, Morin told reporters during a March 21 press roundtable. The service’s budget for facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization is one of the hardest hit areas, he said. “We had to take much deeper reduction in that area of activity in order to somewhat protect our flying-hour activity,” said Morin. In an attempt to cut spending, earlier this year the Air Force drastically cut facility sustainment activities to emergency work orders only, he said. “We are seeing about a 90 percent reduction in expenditures in that area,” said Morin. (For more from Morin’s roundtable, see Operational Efficiency Highlighted in Energy Plan and Goal Surpassed in Reducing Aviation Fuel Use.)