Pickens on the stump to raise the wind

By Sheila McNulty in Houston
Published: May 3 2009 20:26

It has been less than a year since T Boone Pickens unveiled his “Pickens Plan’’, urging the US to embrace wind energy and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
In those 10 months, the 80-year-old Mr Pickens has made 113 trips to 60 cities across America, hosted 22 town halls, and met local and national leaders.

He is calling on the US to use wind to generate the 22 per cent of the nation's electricity now powered by natural gas. That would free natural gas to be used as a fuel for transport and reduce US dependence on foreign oil.
Mr Pickens said: “I’m for anything that’s American – drilling, nuclear, wind. You’ve got to get some plan going.’’
He believes the election as US president of Barack Obama, who supports alternative energy, sets the stage for his plan.
In an email to supporters on April 29 he wrote: “For four decades, every US president has promised to make US energy independent, but it hasn’t happened. President Obama knows that, and he has made reducing our oil imports a priority.
“Let’s give him credit – in the midst of the recession and all that entails, the president hasn’t let energy fall by the legislative wayside.’’
Mr Pickens said there was legislation working through Congress to make natural gas a leading transport fuel, for a 21st century transmission grid, to promote energy efficiency, to increase US wind and solar capabilities and adopt a renewable electricity standard requiring utilities generate a percentage of their power from renewables.
He said: “This year will be the landmark year for energy in the US”.
His own contribution to the cause will be highlighted this week at the wind power conference in Chicago.
He has kept interest in wind energy alive with regular emails to the 1.5m people who have signed up on his website, whom he calls his “army’’. He organises virtual “marches’’ on Washington and runs television advertisements stressing America’s oil addiction is threatening its economy, environment and national security.
In 1970, he says, the US imported 24 per cent of its oil versus nearly 70 per cent today. Mr Pickens says he cannot go anywhere without Americans thanking him for his efforts to reduce that dependency. “I’m not kidding myself. I’m no fool. I think there’s a tremendous amount of interest.’’
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009