T. Boone Pickens launched a bipartisan public policy campaign today to address America’s dependence on foreign oil. The objective of "The Pickens Plan" is to underscore the need to declare a national emergency and develop governmental leadership on the issue.
Now dependent on foreign nations for 70% of its oil, the U.S. is exporting $700 billion annually, more than four times the cost of the Iraq war, said Pickens, who has worked in the oil and gas industry for nearly six decades.
Pickens said his plan can reduce foreign oil dependency by more than one-third. The plan calls for investing in power generation from domestic renewable resources such as wind and using the nation’s abundant supplies of natural gas as a transportation fuel, replacing more than one-third of imported oil and saving more than $230 billion a year.
"Our dependence on imported oil is killing our economy. It is the single biggest problem facing America today," Pickens said. "As we import more and more of our energy, we are participating in the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind, sending billions of our dollars overseas to buy oil for a commodity that lasts 90 days until burned in our gas tanks."
Pickens said his plan is "doable" in five to 10 years if the U.S. Congress and presidential administration act quickly.
"Today, the U.S. imports a quarter of the world’s oil production with just four percent of the world’s population and just three percent of the world’s reserves," Pickens said. "This is not sustainable, certainly not at today’s prices. Conservation alone will not solve our dependence on foreign oil, but it is part of the mix. Our country has a crisis that we can solve by working together and by acting quickly and decisively. We must take strong and bold steps and challenge all of our leaders in this election year to get on board to truly change the landscape today for a better tomorrow."
THE PICKENS PLAN
Today, 22% of our electricity is generated by power plants using natural gas as a source of fuel. Of the $700 billion worth of foreign oil we import every year, 70% goes to fulfilling our country’s transportation needs in the form of carbon-rich gasoline and diesel fuel for cars, airplanes, trucks and other vehicles. This number is growing year after year.
While renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass, geothermal) represents a mere 2% of our energy sources today, according to a study released by the Department of Energy in 2008, there is conclusive evidence that we can generate at least 20% of our electricity supply from wind power from the nation’s "wind corridor"–a vast stretch of territory between West Texas and the Canadian border.
–Step #1: Using the United States’ wind corridor, private industry will fund the installation of thousands of wind turbines in the wind belt, generating enough power to provide 20% or more of our electricity supply
–Step #2: Again funded by the private sector, electric power transmission lines will be built, connecting these wind power generating sites with power plants providing energy to the population centers in the Midwest, South and Western regions of the country.
–Step #3: With the energy from wind now available to operate power plants serving the large population centers in key areas of the country, the natural gas that was historically utilized to fuel these power plants can be redirected and used to replace imported gasoline and diesel as a fuel for thousands of vehicles in our transportation system.
Since natural gas is cheaper than gasoline and diesel and because natural gas can be easily used to power a wide range of vehicles, this plan creates an energy platform that cuts more than one-third or more than $230 billion off the nation’s yearly payments to foreign countries, Pickens says.
In addition, the plan brings tremendous environmental advantages as the substitution of natural gas will reduces carbon emissions substantially.
Pickens said, "I am calling on the next President and Congress to take immediate action in the first 100 days of the new Administration to do whatever is necessary to make this plan a reality," said Mr. Pickens. "We are asking the American public to get behind this plan and to help us reduce our dangerous dependency on foreign oil. This has to be the number one priority in the country starting today and that’s what this campaign is all about"
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