Pickens at TCU: natural gas abundance 'divine intervention'
BY JOHN-LAURENT TRONCHE
March 03, 2009
+ enlarge photo
File photo
Speaking at Texas Christian University on March 2, oil tycoon and alternative energy proponent T. Boone Pickens said the fact that the United States imports almost 70 percent of its oil from overseas is a problem that needs to be addressed today so that younger generations aren’t strapped with an expensive bill and no way out.
The Oklahoma-born businessman, who launched the Pickens Plan in July 2008, has been a staunch supporter of weaning the U.S. off foreign oil and onto new energy resources, such as natural gas, wind energy and solar power.
“We’re the ones that have everything messed up on the use of oil because 4 percent of the people using 25 percent of the oil seems somewhat unfair,” Pickens said to a packed house in TCU’s Brown-Lupton University Union ballroom. “There are a lot of reasons for it, we’re more highly industrialized, but the world is not doing to see it quite like that. What we need to do is get on our own resources.”
The first step toward reducing the nation’s dependence on oil is converting 350,000 18-wheeler trucks to natural gas, which Pickens said could reduce imports by as much as 4 percent. The government should provide incentives for fleet owners to make the conversion from diesel to natural gas, such as an $80,000 credit, he said.
Pickens said the abundance of natural gas shale plays – the Big 4 being the Barnett, Haynesville, Marcellus and Fayetteville shales – is nothing short of “divine intervention,” or the solution to a problem at a time when the United States needs help.
More than 1.4 million people have signed up online to join the New Energy Army, a term used by Pickens to describe those in favor of the plan. Addressing the crowd of students, faculty and other guests, Pickens asked for more support.
“I want you to join me,” he said.
Pickens’ organization is planning a “virtual” march on Washington, ,D.C. for April 1-3 and asked students to sign up and push for support of the Pickens Plan.
Buck