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Man On A Mission

October 26, 2008 5:39 PM

The oil and gas maven is on a mission to lessen America's dependence on foreign oil. Charlie Rose reports.

Pickens: My Energy Plan Is The "Only Plan"
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by underscored June 29, 2011 9:44 AM EDT
The story reads like the secret behind a brilliant magician's sleight-of-hand trick, with Thomas Boone pulling the strings of government, politics, environmental activists, and public relations. Mr. Pickens has been a busy boy lately - over the last few years, he's purchased large tracts of land in northern Texas (400,000 acres+), planned for his massive wind farm. As that purchase was underway, Pickens allegedly used about 1.2 million dollars worth of 2006 campaign contributions to motivate the wheels of government to allow his little investment to become a town; a town with two employees as residents.
Those two employees voted unanimously to create a fresh water district within the town limits, a district which is perched above the United States' largest non-renewable, fresh water aquifer, the Ogallala.
In Texas, if you can drill it, you can pump it, and water is no exception. Using the power of eminent domain (with his little town) Pickens is attempting to leverage land enough to build a water pipeline all the way to Dallas. Even the Sierra Club is backing Pickens' project. What a joke for CBS not to even ask about these issues. There is a water war on and t-bone is on the front lines now. Oh, btw, I am fairly certain there is no natural gas any where around that property either. Mr. Pickens, humanitarian extraordinaire.
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by dugudr October 30, 2008 1:33 AM EDT
Is he the voice of Quagmire?
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by rcjonesy1 October 28, 2008 4:44 PM EDT
Kill the Bear Market and invest in the future of energy!
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by umtomcat October 27, 2008 9:07 PM EDT
If Obama wanted to emulate McCain''s attack ads, we would hear robocalls in the Heartland informing America''s patriots that McCain:

a) was in the pocket of former Lincoln Savings & Loan president and convicted criminal Charles Keating;

b) was buddies with fellow convicted criminal Republicans Ted Stevens, Tom Delay, Scooter Libby, Bob Allen, Trent Lott, Jack Abramoff, Don Young, Larry Craig, Randy %u201CDuke%u201D Cunningham, Tom Feeney, Alberto Gonzoles, Bob Ney, Mark Foley...etc;

c) accepted political donations from the Watergate convicted criminal G. Gordon Liddy;

d) picked a runningmate mired in scandal (Troopergate) and has acted "unethical" according to her own people - - and doctored expense reports to bilk her taxpayers;

e) gave up information to his communist captors in North Vietnam, whereas other American prisoners did NOT;

McCain has a lot to answer for, but Obama hasn''t stooped to that level. You can%u2019t call yourself patriot while voting for criminals.
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by sogs89 October 27, 2008 7:10 PM EDT
Devil is in the details, this is not only about NRG it is also about not wanting to pay or lease land that is needed for the wind generators and transmisition line and tag on some water rights with it also... its an attempt at a land grab. Only briefly did Pickens mention the use of "Emergency Eminent Domain"... Good luck Pickens because we North Dakotans will not allow some Texan or East Coaster onto our lands without a lease or a percentage of the profets that will be recieved by a private company that is selling NRG...and water rights good luck, no way will this be included.
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by cmdrron October 27, 2008 6:04 PM EDT
My concern is,if we use up all the fuel it takes to keep the earth warm,what then? IS NATURAL GAS USED FOR EARTHS FUEL? WIND,SOLAR,RENEWABLE FUELS FROM THE EARTHS RICH PLANT LIFE IS OK UNLESS WE COME UP WITH A WAY TO USE NON-BURNABLE FUELS. TO BURN ANYTHING FOR FUEL STILL POLLUTES. ANOTHER THING,,IF THE PEOPLE WHO STILL WANTS TO USE THE OIL,GAS,FUELS ARE WELCOME TO MOVE TO THE COUNTRIES WHO KEEP UP USING THEM WHILE DISTORYING MOTHER EARTH.
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by rcjonesy1 October 27, 2008 4:15 PM EDT
Kill the Bear Market and invest in the future of energy!
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by meanstreet14 October 27, 2008 1:42 PM EDT
And AlexWatkinz!!! YOu are my favorite... The average Joe in America? You are wondering how reducing dependence on foreign oil can help "Joe the Plumber?" Well, how about the fact that using natural gas burns cleaner and is only a stepping stone for vehicles. The Chevy Volt will be able to plug in your house and run on electricity. But the problem is that most of the electricity in the U.S. comes from burning coal. HUGE POLLUTER!! And there is NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN COAL! If the entire US power source came from wind and solar (which it can and is feasible and is COMEPLETELY RENEWABLE), then all of our cars (assuming we move to electric cars) will run off of United States power. It will take ten years or more. But it is people like you that stop innovation. "How does that help me?" How about your children. For ever dollar we send to that tumultous region that we purchase 75% of our oil from, think of how much money we send to terrorists. That''s how you the avarage Joe can benefit. We can stop worrying about terrorists, we can save the environment, and we can strengthen our dollar by having more countries invest in the US.
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by meanstreet14 October 27, 2008 1:42 PM EDT
WOW... Sassy032, in regards to oil company mergers and the price of oil. I think you are alluding to price fixing by international oil companies. Did you know that Exxon is only #14 on the list of largest oil companies with the most reserves? Numbers 1-13 are all in the middle east. You aren''t completely in the dark about price fixing though, but it has nothing to do with domestic mergers. Ever heard of OPEC? That is WHAT THEY DO!!! And guess what? They are all in the middle east with the largest reserves. DO some research. And if you want to invest, go to pickensplan.com.
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by mttdgf October 27, 2008 1:34 PM EDT
Notice this story purports to be about Boone Pickens, NOT about the Pickens Plan. This somewhat explains the short shrift given to the Pickens Plan and PickensPlan.com.

However, it''s not a surprise that the mainstream, predominantly liberal media would hold a grudge against Pickens and his role in Kerry loosing to Bush in 2004. Notice how warmly Kerry greeted Rose in the footage above, completely ignorming Pickens. This is the measure of Kerry the man, and CBS news.
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