T. Boone Pickens Finally Drops the "Clean" From His "Clean Energy" Plan
Billionaire T. Boone Pickens' grand plan to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil once focused on two domestically produced elements: natural gas and wind. Now, the man who made his money in the oil biz is ditching the decidedly cleaner and (renewable) of the two. Unfortunately for wind, Pickens isn't the industry's biggest problem. His excuse for backing out of wind -- hint, cheap natural gas -- is the real challenge.
Originally, Pickens wanted to upgrade the electrical transmission grid, use natural gas as a transportation fuel, and generate electricity from wind -- not coal. Low natural gas prices, however, have made it his go-to electricity choice. In an interview with Roll Call, Pickens defended his sans-wind focus.
Of course, I wish I had everybody with me. Does it hurt [not to]? Sure. It's not going to help. But you can't do wind because natural gas is too cheap. There is a huge opportunity to get natural gas into the market, so I would ask the Sierra Club, what can I be for?This "news" should surprise no one. Pickens has been retreating from his wind power ambitions for the nearly three years.
A quick history lesson
He recruited thousands to Pickens Army, a legion of supporters who help spread the word about his energy plan. In May 2008, Pickens announced that his company Mesa Power LP would order 687 wind turbines from GE for about $2 billion. The turbines were supposed to all end up in the Texas Panhandle to create a $10 billion wind farm with 1,000 megawatts of capacity -- the largest in the world.
Pickens has backpedaled ever since, citing low natural gas prices and inadequate transmission lines (the latter being another big challenge for wind). Last year, he cut his order for wind turbines by more than half and said the remaining 300 turbines would head for Canada and Minnesota.
Pickens isn't the clean energy messiah
Right now Pickens is focused on what's practical. In his mind, why bother with the headache of raising funds to build a transmission line that would support a wind farm if natural gas is abundant and cheap?
Which means Pickens will push harder than ever to ensure Congress passes the NAT Gas Act, otherwise known as the New Alternative Transportation to Give American's Solutions Act. And he'll be on the prowl to protect the natural gas industry, namely by keeping efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing -- an unconventional drilling technique described in this catchy video -- at bay.
His bet could backfire. Fracking has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers over reports of water contamination. (Again, check out that video.) And one recent report commissioned by the Post Carbon Institute says the U.S. doesn't have a decades-long supply of inexpensive natural gas.
Photo of wind turbine from Stephan Uhlman, CC 2.0
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