When the Defense Department says they do not kill fish, this is a  half-truth. The U.S. military is the largest consumer of fuel on the planet. Ninety-three percent of the U.S. government’s fuel use is by the Department of Defense.  The military consumes more electricity than Denmark, burns more fuel than all of  Sweden. One-quarter of all jet fuel on the planet is burned in Air Force jets. An Abrams tank burns 250 gallons per hour, a Navy destroyer burns 1,000 gallons per hour, an F-4 fighter burns 1,600 gallons per hour, and an aircraft carrier burns 7,000 gallons an hour.  

The armed forces burned more fuel in the first three weeks of the war in Iraq (a war for oil more than world security) than all allied forces did in World War II.   

“War games” do kill fish — insidiously — as Alaska stream temperatures climb, as the Pacific rises in temperature and sea level, as the world heats up.

As Alaskans we need to say we are safe when our salmon return, as citizens of the planet we need to stop this maniacal grab for fossil fuels to lubricate the defense industry.

Gordy Vernon