The press conference speakers on energy security at the Press Club –Back row left to right: Vitalii Ostapchuk, Colonel Armed Forces, Ukraine, Anton Oriekhov, Pervomaisky City First Deputy Mayor Council, Kharkiv region, Jordan Meade FRSA, Gravesham Councilor, UK, Founder of Kent with Ukraine, Lesia Kozachok, Deputy Director Department of Economic Development of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, Iryna Martseva, Chief Specialist, Department of Economic Development of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, Alex Cornell du Houx, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) President/Co-Founder, fmr. Maine State Rep., Marine Combat Veteran, and Will Atkins, Lt Col. Air Force Veteran. Front row left to right: Roz Savage, South Cotswolds Member of Parliament, international rower, Lord Richard Risby, House of Lords, UK, Dr. Pat Spearman, Fmr. Nevada State Senator President Pro-Tempore, Retired Army Lt. Colonel, Katheryn Napier, Blue Lake City Council Member, CA, Army Airborne Veteran, Svitiana Sushko, Acting Director, Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Recovery and Reform Support Team, and Aaron Márquez, Arizona State Representative, District 5, Army Veteran.
Any attack on public lands hurts all Americans, say veterans who are elected officials defending democracy
August 11, 2025
By Ramona Cornell du Houx
WASHINGTON DC. As fossil fuel-based energy continues to fuel the warming of the planet, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. This results in direct threats to global security with mass migrations and conflicts over scarce resources. The military knows the climate crisis is a threat multiplier. Today, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., elected officials who are veterans spoke about how investments in clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, and protecting our public lands are key to energy security.
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They were joined by dignitaries from Ukraine and from the United Kingdom who addressed the need for every nation to develop and implement energy security solutions for world security.
“Imagine winter in Ukraine. A mother and family in freezing temperatures. It’s hard to conceive of the suffering. This isn’t just about clean energy for us. It’s a matter of survival. Clean energy solar panels on our schools are our defense against the war. Energy security for us is clean energy infrastructure,” said Svitiana Sushko, Acting Director, Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Recovery and Reform Support Team. “We need to rebuild together. We need to make energy security not only in Ukraine but in the world.”
A mayor, whose city is on the front lines expressed hope for the future working with democratic nations.
“I believe in the future. Before the war we were working to become energy efficient. Now, clean energy is a matter of survival,” said Anton Oriekhov, Pervomaisky City First Deputy Mayor Council, Kharkiv region. “We have the vision we are implementing, step by step. We built a solar station for critical use last year and this year we are constructing another. Clean energy is energy security.”
The war continues, despite campaign promises by the president. And the attacks from Putin have intensified on the lead up to the summit in Alaska between Trump and Putin August 15.
“Russia, China, and North Korea are trying to destroy our democracy. We will never give up. But we need all the help that is available from democratic nations. That includes clean energy to keep going,” said Vitalii Ostapchuk, Colonel Armed Forces, Ukraine. “We can show the future for the world with clean energy solutions. Slava Ukraini!”
UK lawmakers talked about their efforts.
“I am delighted to be back in Washington D.C. to highlight the fundamental need for the development of more sub-national agreements to aid the recovery of Ukraine. I have seen first hand how in Ukraine’s hour of need, sub-national relationships – from region to state, city to city, community to community – are proving to be lifelines and all municipal leaders should think about how they can engage their communities in this important area of work,” said Councillor Jordan Meade FRSA, Founder of Kent with Ukraine, Councillor in Gravesham, UK.
Some cited elements from the Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) Ukraine Energy Security Marshall Plan that recommends clean energy solutions for implementation now, and after the war.
“For geopolitical security, we need to get the Ukrainian economy growing again – reestablishing and developing the high technology, energy and agricultural sectors in particular,” said The Rt Hon. The Lord Risby, UK House of Lords. “To make this happen, from the UK and the USA, we need to develop comprehensive tax incentives and develop insurance mechanisms for those contemplating investment currently.”
Sadly, too many countries are dependent on oil barons who dictate fluctuating prices and policy to the world because they own this energy resource.
“As veterans, we fought and worked hard to protect our democratic values and lands. The war in Ukraine is a clear warning to the world, illustrating how our dependence on a single source of energy is destroying lands and creating instability. Alternatively, distributed clean energy is secure, costs less, and creates prosperity,” said Alex Cornell du Houx, former Maine State Representative, Marine combat veteran, President of the Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA), and Co-Founder. “A clean energy future is a secure and prosperous future.”
The Trump administration is working to ramp up fossil fuel production, which endangers the environment, increases extreme weather, threatens public health and hurts disadvantaged and environmental justice communities the most and makes us energy insecure.
“Much of my time in the military was spent conducting humanitarian aid missions following natural disasters that were exacerbated by climate change. Imagine carrying a hundred thousand body bags in my aircraft following devastating floods and mudslides across the globe. Or losing dear friends when their aircraft crashed while fighting wildfires in California. We are seeing firsthand where flooding threatens our coastal navy bases, how droughts lead to coups in the middle east, and a lack of food and water security spark conflicts across the globe,” said Will Atkins, Lt Col. Air Force Veteran. “We must continue to protect threats domestic and foreign from hurting the country we serve. We must protect America with clean energy solutions.”
Here at home, oil corporations make record profits year after year knowing their products increase health risks, and fuel the climate crisis with dangerous greenhouse gases. Exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions accounted for 18 percent of total global deaths in 2018. Research shows that about 1 out of 5 Americans die prematurely due to the production and usage of fossil fuels.
It’s a national security issue.
“Having to breathe in heavily polluted cancer-causing air just because you live near a factory, congested roadway or shipping route has to stop. Environmental justice communities need to be lifted up and out of the dark ages of systemic racism. Clean energy can make it happen, while making the US energy secure,” said Dr. Pat Spearman, Former Nevada State Senator, President Pro-Tempore, Retired US Army Lt. Colonel, Veteran, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA)National Climate Emergency & Energy Security Task Force member. “This administration wants to ramp up fossil fuel extraction and production putting the people’s lands — our public lands — at risk. Additionally, an increase in fossil fuel production will threaten infrastructure, public health, water, and food supplies at home and globally. The US pays $81 billion protecting oil interests around the world every year. $81 billion. On the other hand, renewables are thecheapest form of power today, reduce our carbon footprint, create jobs, protect public health, lift up environmental justice communities, and are critical to energy security,”
Attacks on public lands hurt every American—
On February 3, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sending a clear signal that it intended to sell out and sell off the nation’s public lands to the highest bidder to fill the SWF coffers. With other executive orders, the President has taken away national monument status for sites, amped up rare earth mineral and coal mining, expanded oil and gas leases, and opened protected areas to logging, while gutting agency budgets. The budget bill narrowly escaped a provision that would have sold off more than 450,000 acres so local governments could buy the land at market value, with no restrictions on how they used it.
“I’ve been fortunate to have seen many of your public lands. It’s true your lands are vast and beautiful. And 70 percent of your water originates on your public lands. But this administration wants to sell off your public lands for a sovereign wealth fund. Your natural inheritance is your sovereign wealth fund,” said Roz Savage, South Cotswolds Member of Parliament, international rower. “I urge all Americans to stand up for your birthright, your public lands. There is a Native American saying, ‘We do not inherit our earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
In the United States, there are roughly 640 million acres of public lands owned by the American people and managed by the government.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Danger Season” Map, 98 percent of people who are living in the U.S. have faced serious extreme weather alerts since May 1, 2025.
“The Dragon Bravo Fire now has the dubious distinction of being our nation’s largest wildfire burning more than 126,000 acres in our Grand Canyon National Park, prompting nearby communities to declare transportation, supply and smoke emergencies. People are suffering from breathing in the dangerous smoke particulates, the stress, economic loss and uncertainty. The blaze has been burning for more than a month, fueled by record-low humidity due to the climate crisis,” said Aaron Márquez, Arizona State Representative, District 5, Army Veteran. “Yet the administration has cut back on National Park personnel who help prepare for the fire season. At the same time, they’ve opened up our public lands to more oil and gas leases and coal mining — measures that add to the greenhouse gas climate warming devastation. We fought to protect America from threats foreign and domestic. Continuing to use fossil fuels unabated threatens our security. For the security of our nation, we need clean energy solutions implemented not diminished.”
More fossil fuel extraction on land or in the oceans, and more mining — all on public lands — represents a betrayal of the government’s contract with the American people, and will only fuel the climate crisis around the globe. These public lands represent about 28 percent of the total land area in the country where every American is an equal land owner by birthright.
The property clause of the US Constitution vests all power over public lands in Congress. Any power the president, secretary of the interior, or secretary of agriculture has over public lands is due to Congress expressly delegating that power in statute. However, Congress remains silent over many of the president’s executive orders..
“Our energy dependence on fossil fuels is not a problem that gets solved somewhere else, by someone else. It starts in places like Blue Lake, and all townships, districts and municipalities large and small,” said Katheryn Napier, Blue Lake City Council Member, CA, Army Airborne Veteran. “With this administration focused on opening up public lands to fossil fuel extraction our coasts are under threat from potential oil drilling. We cannot let that happen. Sustainable energy in my town of Blue Lake in Northern California is our best option to hold back the extreme weather that is upending lives across the state, and the world. With floating offshore wind clean energy turbines off the coast of Humboldt, we can improve the reliability of electricity and provide substantial co-benefits, reducing ordinary air pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions that are the main source of global warming. Blue Lake is perfectly positioned to be part of the transmission line for offshore wind energy from the coast to the I5 corridor. Energy security relies on clean energy.”
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates California has 200 GW of OSW potential. Currently the state has more than 25 GW in five existing leases. The floating wind turbines off the coast of Humboldt and Morro Bay will be different from those on the east coast as they will be located in deep waters where they cannot be fixed to the bottom. They will be positioned on floating platforms tethered to the seabed, 20 miles off the coast. This method has been used in Europe successfully.
The Trump administration failed to recognize the climate crisis as a threat multiplier in their2025 threat assessment, despite previously acknowledging the danger during Trump’s first term.