Pickens, Pataki Still Fighting the Fight for Alternative Energy

I am amazed that hatred of an individual would cause people to basically turn off their brain. Whether Pickens is a good guy or evil I do not know, nor do I care. Imported oil is bad for us on so many fronts that it would seem that whether you are a conservative or liberal you would want to get rid of it. We know OPEC is not our friend and would both rob us and fund those who will kill us. Pickens and Company at worst only want to line their own pockets. So who do you want to give money to? Spending our energy dollars overseas or here at home is another major consideration. So would spending our energy dollars here provide us with more jobs? Do we want this money in our pocket, or do we want to send it off elsewhere to help fund terrorists? If we keep sending our money to fund terrorism then we also have to spend more money on our military, so maybe the big defense contractors are the ones who are against this? Using wind and solar energy is much cleaner then using oil or coal. So while domestic oil is better then foreign oil we still need to continue to move off oil. To me natural gas is only a stepping stone as we move forward, but we do need to keep going forward. Unfortunately with all the partisanship in politics from both sides we have a problem. Also with oil prices tumbling the sense of urgency will be lost. Neither side of the political spectrum will act. Republicans are married too deep to oil, coal and nuclear power to be able to seriously work at getting off them. The Democrats are just plain anti every type of power. I have watched them block wind and solar power frequently. So here we are, stuck at a stalemate.

Wow! The differences in opinion are fascinating. First, I'd like to clarify a couple things one is Boone Pickens is worth billions so he's not trying to get rich, he is rich, period. Second, in the interview he reminded everybody that he is a business man, he got rich in oil. And for the record if he was an unsuccessful businessman he wouldn't be getting interviewed because none of us would have ever heard of him. Further proof of his financial success is he's funding his message via the pickensplan.com website and commercials with millions of his dollars. He has started a movement, whether for profit, for the environment, for alternatives to foreign sources of energy or a cleaner burning and cheaper fuel, he started it and his plan is better than what we currently have, which is, uhhh wait a minute, we don't have a plan to get us off foreign oil. Secondly, there are some serious misrepresentations that were not clarified in the interview. For example, the $700 billion annual figure that continues to get thrown around is true only when oil is at $140 a barrel or more. Currently the price of a barrel of oil is under $70 but even at $70 it's $350 billion annually and we're sending about 70% of that out of our economy. OPEC has already announced they will be cutting the production of oil to get the price of a barrel of oil back to more than $100 a barrel. Second, we only import less than 15% of our oil from the middle east. And lastly, compressed natural gas will not completely replace oil in the next 10 or 20 years even if the next president fully embraces the Pickens plan instantly. The bottom line that I think too many people are missing and Boone is not providing enough information on is the direct impact on the US economy. If we use a domestic source of energy, whatever it might be to power our homes, businesses, cars, etc. It will literally pour money into our economy immediately. We would be consuming what we produce, that's a novel idea. We would be paying ourselves which means we'd be able to create more jobs in the USA, we'd have a standard of living increase across the country, we'd begin leading in innovation of something that actually matters... ENERGY! Not focusing our innovation on being able to make the next camera that fits in our pocket or an MP3 player that can hold 8 million songs or a flat panel TV as big as my house but innovation that the world is starving for! Did you know we already are home to the best oil rig designers, fabricators, manufacturers in the world?!? So we Americans and American companies build the finest oil rigs then ship them over seas and buy back the energy and resources they produce. What's even more fascinating is look at when the congress put the moratorium in place in 1982 not allowing us to drill off our own coasts and look at how much more oil we've been importing ever since! Another awesome point is if natural gas, wind, solar, hydro, etc. take over as primary sources of energy in the USA, we could very shortly (10 years) become exporters of energy and energy making equipment rather than importers. 10 years isn't long to me since I look at our children and see what this country might be if we continue to not do anything, we can start right now! Compound the benefits of recovering and selling our own energy within the USA short term with being sellers of equipment, hardware and software as well as raw energy to the rest of the world and imagine our economy then vs now, what do you get? Does this make sense? Because from what I'm getting from this plan is what the Saudis as exporters have already, wealth and control over their own destiny. We on the other hand are dependent on them and other nations who are exporters of energy. If others on this forum oppose the plan that's great! Let's explore it, let's tear apart his plan if it looks suspect and find out what can be done better for this country! However, it's not going to benefit anyone here attempting to discredit Boone. It appears to me Boone believes the current energy policy we have is failing. Because he sees that and what the future will hold he's come up with his plan. His goal as he states it is to get it out there and get the people (us) to adopt it or at least get the conversation happening. Let's get it happening, I like his plan. The only thing I'd say is let's also drill NOW for oil on our land, on our coasts and in Alaska. Because we need to offset the amount of oil we import while we get Nat Gas infrastructure up and running. Because right now if I bought a Nat Gas car, where do I fill it up? I also think this country is losing the diesel game as it's not being promoted. VW has been making turbo diesels for years and they've been averaging 40 mpg the whole time. And now all the new diesels VW will make will still make in access of 40 mpg. Plus, Ford has a Fiesta or Festiva diesel overseas that's getting 60 mpg but Americans don't buy diesels so Ford does NOT have a business case to bring this car to the US market. Let's talk energy, alternatives are out there now! Which ones do we have in this country? Which can we use now? What will be best in the future? What costs the least? What is the cleanest? What is the most abundant?

We have to make an adjustment to our energy consumption. No doubt that correction will not be cheap. Have you been to the grocery store lately? A bag of apples is not cheap. Wages seem to remain the same and the cost of the bare necessities just keeps going up. In order to restructure our dependence on fossil fuels we will have to find a solution. Currently, our known technologies are wind and solar power. It seems obvious to me that in the future we will need to have a diverse source of energy production facilities. Wind, sun, coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, and nuclear power my be required to power our grids in the future. Failing to add the necessary resources now, may really cost us in the future. I have to agree with Mr. Pickens Plan!

Boone is 80 years old and worth several billion dollars, so I doubt he is doing this just to make money. We need to do EVERYTHING to free ourself from imported oil. This will create jobs and keep our dollars here. It is a simple solution that everyone should get behind including the next president. Icannot believe the negative responses to your interview, Alexis, I thought it was great and very informative.

Response to Comment by David Your comments regarding Mr Pickens are your opinion and may be correct for all I know. However, I find your argument regarding the price of natural gas rising to the level of gasoline if we convert vehicles to CNG fuel to be problematic. Are you implying that we would be worse off with CNG priced the equivalent of gasoline? Your position against the development of a CNG infrastructure makes little or no sense to me. Natural gas is abundant, less polluting than gasoline and easily distributed throughout the United States versus imported foreign oil refined into gasoline and trucked to a filling station. We need alternatives and CNG is among the cleanest and cost effective fuels available to us in the short term.

T. Boone drives a Honda that runs on CNG. He's talked about it several times in his presentations on his site: www.Pickensplan.com. Even if oil dropped to $50/barrel we should switch to domestic and green sources. The money we send t the middle east goes to terrorists, or to despotic regimes that don't care about their people as long as they can rake in petrodollars (Venezuela too). This is a national security issue AND an environmental issue. Here are my personal top 10 reasons for going to domestic, green sources of energy: 1. Climate Change: Oil and Coal contribute to global warming and will only do so more as China, India etc. emulate American lifestyles. According to many scientists, We may already be past the temperature “tipping point.” 2. Balance of Trade: We import 70% of our oil - $700 billion/year - often from countries that hate us, fund terrorists, and buy our businesses (Citigroup) and infrastructure (Chrysler Building). This is an unsustainable transfer of wealth which will only make America poorer, maybe forever. We are now paying foreign powers both what we earn personally AND what our companies earn, while they sit back and enjoy the results of their geological luck. Take a look at T. Boone Pickens' presentation for a more realistic assessment of what exporting our wealth will do to us in 10 years. Or, take a look at post-Columbus Spain, which thought having all the gold in the new world would keep them prosperous forever and allow them to import whatever skills and goods they needed. It didn't and they couldn't. 3. Green Jobs: Germany has created 250,000 new green jobs in its solar industry, which supplies 13% of its electric needs. We need to replace oil, coal and nuclear producing jobs with wind and solar installation and maintenance jobs. (It takes 10 years to build a nuclear plant and 2 years to build a solar thermal field). 4. National Security: We must not depend on foreign powers to supply us with vital energy, which is as critical to modern society as food and shelter. Even if we drill the arctic for oil (home to up to 25% of the world’s reserves, according to US Geological Survey), we will have to defend those new wells not only from nature, but from Russia, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), and others with a claim to the high north, leading to unnecessary conflict with these countries. Clearly, ANWR has never been about the tiny bit of land off northern Alaska that would supply just 2 years of oil for America; it’s been about opening up the entire Arctic to exploration. We cannot afford to defend such a large and inhospitable region. 5. The Oil Curse: Countries that depend on natural resources to make money, and not people, are the most corrupt, despotic, self-righteous and anti-human rights regimes on Earth. China does not seem to care where their oil comes from, encouraging rogue states like Sudan, Iran, Burma and Venezuela, where human rights barely exist. This is a naïve and ultimately counter-productive strategy for China but not one we should be encouraging again either (see: the downfall of the Shah of Iran). 6. Military Overreach: America cannot afford to defend oil fields. The Iraq war is, at least partly, a subsidy for Big Oil. Lives are being lost and resources are being spent ($12 Billion/month) so that - maybe, eventually - we can get more oil out of Iraq (estimated to be 2 or 3 largest holder of oil reserves). Meanwhile, Iraq does not even use $79 billion surplus to pay for its own infrastructure needs, while here in the U.S. our bridge collapse from lack of care (Minnesota) and our electrical grid blacks out. 7. Peak Oil: We are probably only seeing peak geopolitical oil, not peak geological oil, now, but it will only get more expensive to drill oil. Most estimates put peak oil within 10 years, and since global demand has exceeded earlier estimates, we may be even closer. The perversion of the OPEC dominated oil market means that they will drill LESS, not MORE, as the price goes up, since they literally collect more money than they know what to do with already, and they want to stretch out their supply. It's only when the price of oil goes DOWN that Opec members are tempted to cheat on their quotas because their dysfunctional economies become desperate for cash. Right now, they want to sell oil only a trickle at a time. 8. Local Environmental Damage: If we drill everywhere, we will eventually have oil wells all over the west (instead of wind turbines), and even in the (newly melted) arctic. These high-risk drilling areas will be more likely to see oil spills, soot, and CO2 damage and the further eradication of local animal (Polar Bears) and plant life. Already, regional water tables are being polluted by accidents and poisoness chemicals involved in the drilling industry. 9. We eat too much oil: Oil goes into fertilizer, which goes into corn, which goes into EVERYTHING we eat, including meat. Omega 6 fatty acids (the bad kind) are higher in factory-fed beef. Omega 3 fatty acids (the good kind) are higher in grass-fed beef and almost as high as in fish. Oil-based Corn-fed meat is making us fat and raising the national health bill. Cattle, pigs, chickens live a cruel, short life in tight, economical confines because it is cheaper to make them do so than to let them live on the open range. Even an omnivore must realilze there is a difference for an animal to be raised humanely and then killed for food then one that is tortured its entire life and then killed. Each wind turbine could pay farmers $5,000-$10,000 annually and allow livestock to graze in their shade, making natural grass-fed meat economically viable again. This synergy could make us healthier AND wean us off imported oil. 10. Loss of American’s position as “Innovation Leader:” The oil industry was born here over 100 years ago. It is time for America to lead the world into the renewable era.

Anyone who thinks we don't have crisis in progress with the importation of foreign oil is simply naive. And you can ask the people who know; there is not a permanent or even long term solution in drilling more to relieve the crisis. While it will help on a temporary basis, and should be done, it's just too little too late. The demand for oil worldwide is rising too fast and we already consume far more of the current daily production than any other county in the world. With the increasing demand from the developing Chinese economy, we are facing real shortages and much higher prices for petroleum based fuel in the US. That's the reason we must look for different fuel sources. Sure, green is important. Cost is important, also. But none of that will matter if those who have sworn to destroy us succeed. We simply have to address our national security first. Reducing our demand for foreign oil will get us out of an indefensible position of being subservient to those with the oil and those to whom we will owe billions of dollars. So what if Boone makes money from his interest in the solution. To his detractors I ask, what is your plan? If you have one, are you willing to spend millions of your own money to publicize it? Can you do anything to see it enacted if it's better than Boone's plan? How much money have you already spent to get the word out? Why isn't your plan being discussed here rather than Boone's plan? Let's get real. This is not a world where everyone does everything for the love of everyone else. Did Warren Buffett and Bill Gates make their billions to help you? NO! I doubt either of them knows you. Do they, like Boone, give millions to charitable causes? Yes. But like us all, they try to make money with their efforts in whatever endeavor they pursue. Who wouldn't? And why is that bad? Boone has a plan. You may not like the man. OK. He has a plan. Who else has a plan that is will to publicize it? At least Boone has but his money where his mouth is. Who can you point to that has done this in the last 30 years with respect to energy?

Ask the Oklahoma State University Athletic department how dangerous it is to be the beneficiary of T. Boone's largesse. Losses in his hedge fund have basically erased his donation to the athletic department and caused them to have to stop all construction on the stadium renovation they were in the middle of, until (the rumor is) they figure out how to cover T Boone's donation that has now evaporated. T Boone is all about T Boone and no one else.

There are alternatives out in the market place now. I purchased a Honda Civic Natural Gas Vehicle last December. Yes, I saw it all coming. I turned in my leased Ford F-150 3 months later. At that time, neither the dealer I leased from, or the local Toyota dealer wanted to talk about any price breaks on a new vehicle. In March I looked at the salesperson and said, "Do you realize in 3 months no one will be buying trucks". He told me that was my opinion and he couldn't do any better. I encourage everyone to go to the IRS web site and look up Alternative Fuel Vehicles. There are significant tax credits. In addition, a Gallon Gas Equivalent of Natural Gas never, and I repeat NEVER went over $3.00 per gallon during the entire spring and summer. Natural gas is a domestic North American resource. There are still problems. The providers are all monopolies. We have to deal with National Grid here. They keep prices inflated and take advantage of their monopoly power in NY State. The second issue is the lack of significant numbers of fueling stations. Clean Energy, a Pickens company, I believe is the only provider of fueling stations in NY. More NG cars on the road would mean more fueling stations and more competition. Here are a couple of other thoughts. Pataki was governor of NY and was instrumental with the state purchasing fleets of NG vehicles. Why not convert all school buses to NG? Every school year this country wastes millions on fuel for big yellow buses. We have a company that makes NG buses for mass transit, and have been doing so for 15 years. Look at Orion Bus Industries. Why not make school buses? Secondly, we recently had our mass transit taken over by Centro. I company popular in Syracuse. In Syracuse, they use the new NG buses. They then shipped all the gas/deisel guzzling nasty stinky buses to our area. I saved alot of money by "going green". It wasn't a decision made for environmental reasons, but economic reasons. Why should any of us be hostage to OPEC and Saudi Arabia? Do some research. Have a great day. Alexis needs to keep getting the word out there. These changes can happen NOW