This is correspondence from T. Boone Pickens. Thought you might like it.

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Hey Army.

Earlier this year when oil prices had dropped to about $35 per barrel, I was quoted as saying "oil will go to $50 before it goes to $30."

I was right. When oil went to about $45 per barrel, I said it would go to $60 before it went back to $40. Then $70 before it was $50.

I was right again.

Oil has gone back above $70 per barrel and you can look for it to hang around there for a while.I've been in the business for more than 50 years, so I've learned a little something about oil and gas. One of the things I've learned is: Those who have the oil, set the price.

OPEC has the oil and it has been saying for several months that it wants the basic price of a barrel of crude to be $75. They're getting close.

Kuwait then said that they thought a "fair price for oil" was in the $85 - $100 per barrel range. They're going to be right, too.

When you watch the so-called experts on television saying that the price of oil is being manipulated, they're right. It's being manipulated by oil producers in the Middle East, Africa, and Central and South America.

With oil prices going up and gasoline prices at the pump going up just as fast, we have to redouble our efforts to get an energy bill out of the U.S. Congress. Support for the NAT GAS Act (H.R. 1835) continues to grow. We now have nearly 70 bipartisan sponsors and co-sponsors. A companion bill is likely to be introduced in the Senate early next month.

The private sector is getting the message. Mack Trucks announced the other day that it was moving into the natural gas vehicle sector in a big way in refuse and recycling trucks.

Groot Industries, Inc., a major waste hauler in the Midwest, has already placed an order for 20 units which will run on compressed natural gas and are scheduled to go into service in the Chicago area by the end of the year.

Waste Management has been a leader in places like San Diego in moving away from imported diesel to domestic natural gas for its refuse and recycling trucks.

These trucks are among the highest polluters because they either idle or run about five miles-per-hour all day long. That makes them tremendously inefficient as fuel burners and what they don't use to move forward, comes right out of their exhaust pipes and into the air around your house, your business and your kids' schools.

We have the technology, we have the resource and we have the need. All we are waiting for is the U.S. Congress to express its will and pass H.R. 1835 - the NAT GAS Act - so we can get off foreign oil which will protect our environment, improve our economy and protect our national security.