Pickens: Wind belt could revitalize rural America
By Meagan Sexton Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, August 14, 2008
Hoping to help the United States break away from its dependence on foreign oil, T. Boone Pickens, a tycoon in the oil industry, came up with his own plan in an attempt to spark change in America.
Pickens is holding town-hall meetings across the country and will be at the Le Mars Convention Center at 2:30 p.m today to discuss what he believes is a unique and revolutionary plan to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and instead rely on natural gas, wind and solar power.
On Wednesday, the Journal spoke with Pickens by phone and asked him about his energy plan.
Question: How would you summarize your plan to a person who knows very little about the oil crisis in the United States?
Answer: We're importing almost 70 percent of the oil we use every day in America. There's 85 million barrels used in the world every day, and we use 21 million. So we're using 25 percent of all the oil (in the world) every day and we only have 3 percent of the reserves.
We're totally out of step with the world on the use of oil and it costs us annually $700 billion. We cannot afford to pay that for foreign oil when we have a resource that is better than the oil.
That's natural gas. It's ours, it's abundant, it's cleaner... and it's cheaper. So we need to move to natural gas and get off of foreign oil. We've got to change.
Q: Why is this issue important to you?
A: I think it's the toughest question these two candidates (Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen Barack Obama, D- Ill.) have, running for president. This is a huge problem for this country, and it's got to get fixed. Nobody was speaking to the question, and I decided to put together a campaign of my own and go out and tell the American people: One, what the problem was and, two, what the solution was.
Q: What do the states of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have to gain by supporting your plan?
A: We have to develop the wind. Natural gas is used for power generation, and I want to replace that with wind and solar. Those states are in the wind corridor. You could revitalize rural America.
Q: What kind of response are you looking for from the crowd you will be speaking to in Le Mars, Iowa, today?
A: If it's anything like Topeka, Kan., Lamar, Colo., and McAlester, Okla., it will be oversold and people will be standing in the back and I will get a standing ovation at the conclusion of my remarks.
Q: In the past you have stated that you don't believe ethanol and other biofuels will play a significant role in the country's fuel supply. What drew you to this conclusion?
A: Unless we get on cellulosic ethanol we've just about exhausted what we can do on corn. But I'm for that too, I'm for biofuel, just so it's American. Is it the best fuel? No it's not, but it will work and it's better than foreign oil.
Q: Some of your critics claim you are exaggerating facts regarding the United States' dependency on foreign oil, especially countries that are anti-American, to scare people into following your plan. What is your response to those accusations?
A: All the information is out there. We do get oil from some friendly countries like Mexico and Canada. As far as I'm concerned, a lot of the oil comes from the Middle East and Africa. Thirty-eight percent of it does, and I don't consider those people to be very friendly to us. So, I say we're paying for both sides of the war.
Hear the complete audio interview with T. Boone Pickens in the News Notebook blog at http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/blogs/news.
Meagan Sexton can be reached at 712-293-4243 or meagan sexton@siouxcityjournal.com.
Pickens is holding town-hall meetings across the country and will be at the Le Mars Convention Center at 2:30 p.m today to discuss what he believes is a unique and revolutionary plan to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and instead rely on natural gas, wind and solar power.
On Wednesday, the Journal spoke with Pickens by phone and asked him about his energy plan.
Question: How would you summarize your plan to a person who knows very little about the oil crisis in the United States?
Answer: We're importing almost 70 percent of the oil we use every day in America. There's 85 million barrels used in the world every day, and we use 21 million. So we're using 25 percent of all the oil (in the world) every day and we only have 3 percent of the reserves.
We're totally out of step with the world on the use of oil and it costs us annually $700 billion. We cannot afford to pay that for foreign oil when we have a resource that is better than the oil.
That's natural gas. It's ours, it's abundant, it's cleaner... and it's cheaper. So we need to move to natural gas and get off of foreign oil. We've got to change.
Q: Why is this issue important to you?
A: I think it's the toughest question these two candidates (Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen Barack Obama, D- Ill.) have, running for president. This is a huge problem for this country, and it's got to get fixed. Nobody was speaking to the question, and I decided to put together a campaign of my own and go out and tell the American people: One, what the problem was and, two, what the solution was.
Q: What do the states of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have to gain by supporting your plan?
A: We have to develop the wind. Natural gas is used for power generation, and I want to replace that with wind and solar. Those states are in the wind corridor. You could revitalize rural America.
Q: What kind of response are you looking for from the crowd you will be speaking to in Le Mars, Iowa, today?
A: If it's anything like Topeka, Kan., Lamar, Colo., and McAlester, Okla., it will be oversold and people will be standing in the back and I will get a standing ovation at the conclusion of my remarks.
Q: In the past you have stated that you don't believe ethanol and other biofuels will play a significant role in the country's fuel supply. What drew you to this conclusion?
A: Unless we get on cellulosic ethanol we've just about exhausted what we can do on corn. But I'm for that too, I'm for biofuel, just so it's American. Is it the best fuel? No it's not, but it will work and it's better than foreign oil.
Q: Some of your critics claim you are exaggerating facts regarding the United States' dependency on foreign oil, especially countries that are anti-American, to scare people into following your plan. What is your response to those accusations?
A: All the information is out there. We do get oil from some friendly countries like Mexico and Canada. As far as I'm concerned, a lot of the oil comes from the Middle East and Africa. Thirty-eight percent of it does, and I don't consider those people to be very friendly to us. So, I say we're paying for both sides of the war.
Hear the complete audio interview with T. Boone Pickens in the News Notebook blog at http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/blogs/news.
Meagan Sexton can be reached at 712-293-4243 or meagan sexton@siouxcityjournal.com.
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