Pickens Will Save Us All

T. Boone Pickens has announced that he will save the U.S. He’s hosting an intervention for the country, to help us cut our oil addiction. This plan isn’t just about sharing our feelings about what energy costs do to us, though. Pickens is running a full out media blitz to help us see the error of our ways.

My first introduction to Pickens was a visit to Oklahoma State University, where his name is plastered over just about everything, including the football stadium. That’s due to the many millions he has donated to the school, from the fortune he earned as a good old-fashioned Oklahoma oilman.

Despite Pickens’ petroleum background, these days he’s pushing alternative options. To fuel cars, he wants to switch the country over to natural gas. For home electric needs, he wants to go to wind energy. Part of the push is enlightened self-interest: Pickens say the end of oil a while back. He’s heavily invested in both natural gas and wind. Pickens is in the process of building the “world’s largest wind farm” in the Texas Panhandle — yes, they really do everything bigger in Texas. Overall, Pickens has sunk $12 billion into wind power.

But Pickens’ push for alternative energy has more than a little hit of philanthropy about it. He truly believes that the U.S. cannot afford its current gas bill and that oil prices are going to get worse. Rather than taking advantage of that fact to make more money off of oil, Pickens is working to help Americans make the switch. He’s aware that the infrastructure just isn’t available for natural gas cars, and that a substantial investment is going to have to be made by someone able to afford the risk.

So what is he doing about it? Pickens is working to educate the American public. He’s running a media campaign that will get as much air time in the months to come as Senators John McCain and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. Pickens is also focusing on some political action: he wants to push Congress to make legislative changes that make cleaner, cheaper energy available across the country.

He’s providing what he’s calling the Pickens Plan as a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence and stimulate the domestic economy, especially in rural areas. Interestingly enough, Pickens seems to be hitting a lot of conservative buzzwords in an effort to promote what could easily be seen as a left-leaning plan. That might just be what it takes to bring both political parties to the game.
 

Image — Boonespickens.com