Oct. 26, 2008
Pickens: My Energy Plan Is The "Only Plan"
Tells 60 Minutes Wind Power, Solar Energy And Domestic Natural Gas Are The Only Choices To End Country's Oil Addiction
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As 60 Minutes contributor Charlie Rose reports, Pickens says he has a solution - a plan that might sound unrealistic in the current economic climate - but one he hopes will be good for the country and good for Boone Pickens.
At 80 years old, T. Boone Pickens acts like a man in the prime of his life, and there's no better place to see that than at Oklahoma State University. He has given his alma mater about $350 million, turned around the school's football team and rebuilt its stadium.
And that has made him a very big man on campus.
But can this billionaire, who has helped his alma mater so much, help break America's addiction to foreign oil?
"It seems to me that Boone Pickens is a guy that needs an idea and a challenge. He almost needs to be at war all the time," Rose comments.
"I know it. They call 'em crusades. I mean, I've been accused, 'You're a crusader, Pickens,'" he says. "I said, 'I don't start out that way.' But I'll have to admit that sometimes it ends up kinda like a crusade."
Pickens is spending $58 million of his own money to promote his biggest crusade yet, and probably the biggest of its kind. He calls it the "Pickens Plan."
The essence of his plan is to reduce oil imports by 30 percent in ten years, and save the country hundreds of billions of dollars. Pickens is an oil man who believes the era of oil is over, and that there's enough natural gas in this country to take its place in millions of cars and trucks.
"We own it. And it's abundant and it's cheap. It's cheaper than the oil. And whatever we spend here for energy at home creates jobs, taxes and the economy goes…," Pickens says.
He believes this would stimulate the economy. "We can do so much here at home with the money here, instead of letting it go out of the country."
The Pickens Plan, which could be overly ambitious in this financial crisis, calls for a conversion from oil products to natural gas in vehicles, first by phasing in two million new heavy trucks - roughly the entire fleet of big rigs that move goods around the country. Trucks account for about a quarter of the amount of oil we import every year.
"If you don't buy into natural gas, you're not buying into the Pickens Plan as a bridge to the future?" Rose asks.
"That's right," Pickens agrees.
"Anybody, whether it's Sarah Palin or George Bush or John McCain, who thinks you can drill your way out of the problem, is?" Rose asks.
"You don't have a chance. There's no way. We're importing 12 million barrels of oil a day. Okay, let's just say that we were gonna replace 12 million barrels by drilling in America. We would be bigger than Saudi Arabia. We are stretched for everything. I mean, we are a marginal producer," Pickens says.
Asked if he thinks his plan is the last, best hope for America to get off its addiction to foreign oil, Pickens tells Rose, "It's the only plan."
Pickens says his father told him, "A fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan."
In order for his plan to work, Pickens proposes replacing the natural gas that's now used to generate 22 percent of the nation's electricity with a new source of power: wind power, created by thousands of wind farms that would need to be built.
"How do you know the utilities are gonna take wind power as a substitute for natural gas?" Pickens asks. "That may be a mandate."
"So that's a critical point. You may have to have the government demand this happen," Rose says. "Speak to that. Suppose it doesn't work? Suppose the Pickens Plan doesn't happen? What happens to the country?"
"Well, the plan then is foreign oil. You're totally at the mercy of foreign oil. There's no option one, two, three," Pickens says.
Produced by Tanya Simon, Michael Radutzky and Andrew Metz
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 197 CommentsNow, go out and check on Barry''s Birth Certificate.
All I know is that Obama will tax "the big guys" harder to fund bigger allowances for "the people" Obama says it). McCain will try to make business more successful so America can take back some of the good jobs we used to have (stop GM from going broke). But the press wont tell me how that might help me or my kids. They prefer to poke sticks at us and watch us fight like captured dogs.
GTH baby !
He should be ashamed for his funding of that lying group, but I suppose if he was interested in honesty he never would have funded them in the first place.
I''m just surprised he doesn''t lie to save face. Maybe he feels that''s a hopeless task?
What a piece of garbage.
Pickens is now out propagandizing to make money from government programs for alternative energy even though he was probably part of the investor class that sent oil futures to $150 per barrel.
Thanks CBS ! Another horrible slimeball exposed.
www.chilitoz.com check sarah palin commiting crimes against America.
Posted by Questi0nnews at 03:17 PM : Oct 23, 2008
Questi0nnews
*note the slight spelling change
HoooRayyyyyyy
Some little angry putz has honored me by imitating my handle!!! Gee nobody has ever seen that before.
And it''''s the paid political poster!!
(What''''s the matter h0wzilla, did the dog pee in your shoe this morning??)
Do you get a bonus for that??
I must have honked him off by mocking the manure he gets paid to post. He''''s probably also pizzed because in a couple weeks he will have to go back to holding a cardboard sign on the freeway off ramp.
I finally made the big time!!!....Thank you......Thank you.......Thank.....Thank you..... I''''m honored......Thank you.
Posted by The Real Questionnews
The only problem with the Pickens Plan to do this is that Natural Gas is also a carbon generator, (although not as much as coal) What the country really needs is to move to a completely renewable fuel that is carbon-neutral. Rather than moving the heavy fleet on to Natural Gas it would be better to move the heavy fleet onto BioDiesel, and figure out a way to produce a lot of Biodiesel without chewing up our food supply. And the fact is that there''s a number of promising technologies coming out that may appear to do just that.
Although Pickens will not apologize for what he did to Kerry, it appears he wants to make some kind of "amends" by promoting alternate forms of energy besides oil, and thus trying to get some kind of toe in the door of Obama''s energy platform, especially since it appears Obama will win the election!
It is a VERY rare thing for a energy billionare to suddenly reform and become environmentally conscious, that is, unless he sees an opportunity to make billions more by getting in on the scheme!
If I were Obama, I would keep on eye on T. Boone and not get too trusting of the guy!
SIG HEIL, LET''S GIVE T. BOONE A MEDAL!!!, BUSH!!!
sig heil, T. BOONE''S OK; HE LIVES IN A RED STATE!!!, McBush!!!
sig heil, T. BOONE IS AS GUILTLESS AS I AM!!!, Palin!!!
Posted by whosaid1
Unlike Bush, who used his connections to get into the Air Guard (and evade conflict), Kerry went into harm''s way in Vietnam, aggressively attacking the enemy (driving his swift boat directly at the attackers) and saving his fellow Americans.
Kerry was wounded multiple times from these choices, and served with distinction in Vietnam.
Kerry chose not to honor the false attacks from the Swift Boat veterans "for truth - what a sham!" until too late. By the time Kerry produced documented proof of their lies, the campaign was lost.
T-Bone bears a heavy burden of shame for his disgraceful actions and would rightly be treated with contempt by honorable Americans.
T.Boone you should be proud of the mess you helped create. Oh BTW, you supporting that Collaborator McCain this time?
wow ... he contributed nothing positive to the process ... his actions contributed to the results we are all now forced to deal with ... and he has no regret? pathetic.
To pull him down in the most low-life way possible to elect a weak and intellectually challenged draft dodger ( who incoidentally happened to be in the pockets of oil magnates like Pickens) is something that makes me ashamed to have ever been associated with the conservative movement.
I am not a Democrat, but I hope the Democratic Convention gave him the "warm" welcome he deserves,
Now, some people say, "But he didn''t deserve those medals." To which I can only say: if John Kerry''s medals are no good, what good are ANYBODY''S? I used to see a medal and think, "Hey, this person is a hero." I didn''t think about how the medal was won, or if the person had a rich family, or if it was deserved. I just assumed: medal = hero.
But not anymore. Now when I look at a medal, I have to think, "What butt got kissed for this one?"
The conservatives are so agenda-driven that they mindlessly bash everything in their path. While draping themselves in the Star and Bars, they commit atrocious anti-American act. The swift boating issue is a prime example.
No one has to win a medal to speak before Congress. However, Kerry, as a citizen of the US, did so after winning medals in Vietnam. Pickens, a conservative nazi, doesn''t want him in office. He prefers W, who, as we all know, didn''t go to Vietnam at all nor can we be shown any proof that he actually did any service. Shame on Pickens, shame on the swift-boaters, and shame on John Kerry for letting them get by with it.
And shame on any Iraqi- or Afghani-war vets, too, who might display their medals. They are now badges of nothing. In my old America they were badges of courage. Not anymore.
google mccain collaborator
or go to www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmcain.com to get the real story..Why did McCain have his POW record permantly sealed, Why? Is it because he violated the Code of Conduct Article V. If I was a proud hero, I would want my records opened so people could see the ordeal that I went through. Why are his records sealed for life? Should we be asking, why? I am not taking anything away from John and his captivity. All I am saying if you are proud, let us read your heroics...just that let us read what you went through in the hands of our enemy..The North Vietnamese Army. My friend and neighbor came back from the Nam paralyzed...his records are not sealed. He is not a hero, he was just doing his duty. Obeying the 6 articles of the Code of Conduct..
God Bless our military..
Surely you are not suggesting that it will be a crime to be rich if Obama gets elected?
Posted by bob5ford
Don''t worry. America will still be the place where fortunes are made. Even if a black man is president. It won''t be that bad. Even for racists like you.
Posted by whosaid1 at 05:05 PM : Oct 23, 2008
And then there is AWOL Fly Boy Bush and his sidekick 5 Deferment Cheney.
Boy, you and Pickens really showed Kerry didn''t ya...
Despite all of the political hype coming from both candidates, the Pickens Plan could deliver us from the evil of $700 billion dollars being exported annually just to keep us supplied with gasoline. That money goes out of circulation here, and goes mostly into the arab world. This huge loss is one aspect of our recent financial collapse.
While I despise the ultra-low integrity and honor of the Swift Boat Liars for Truth campaign. They sold their souls to the devil just to salvage another term for the low life scumbag in the White House.
We must move on. Pickens has come out with a good plan, and we should recognize something good coming from an 80 year old man after a life of crime.
Why don''t you ask the Wizard for a brain.
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