One pair of arms is like another
I don't know why or who's to blame,
I'll go with you or with your brother
It's all the same, it's all the same.
Posted on 07/22/2008 2:26:05 AM PDT by T Ruth
Oil prices could hit $300 a barrel if the United States does not take drastic action to reduce its heavy dependence on foreign oil, but neither of the top presidential candidates is addressing the crisis, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens said Monday.
To prevent economic bankruptcy as a result of sending $700 billion a year overseas to unstable oil producers in the Middle East and Africa, the nation needs to mobilize behind a plan to shift toward domestic energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power, he told reporters and editors of The Washington Times.
* * *
Mr. Pickens, who at 80 has amassed a fortune worth $4 billion producing and speculating in oil, said he has stopped giving to political campaigns and renounced his previous Republican affiliation in his drive to focus the nation's attention on the need for immediate, drastic action on energy.
* * *Mr. Pickens is pushing a plan to displace about 38 percent of oil imports by switching to a fleet of buses and trucks that run on natural gas. But to accomplish that, the nation would have to stop using natural gas to produce electricity.
He proposes to replace the 22 percent of electricity fueled by gas with a new network of wind and solar power emanating from Great Plains and Western states where wind and sun are abundant.
* * *
Mr. Pickens said the cost of carrying out a plan like his would be about $1 trillion - as much as the United States will soon spend importing oil each year without taking any action to prevent it. All of the technologies in the plan are proven and can be adopted quickly, he said.
* * *
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Pickens would be more believable if he could describe how to store the electricity generated by his wind/solar gizmos for use when the sun don’t shine and the wind don’t blow.
Seems to me he’s trying to jump the chasm in two bounds.
The backbone of his plan refers to something he calls “wind corridors”, where this miracle is to take place. They exist in the same realm as global warming. They're a construct of the environmentalist movement. There's a reason this country moved beyond wind power in the 19th century. It's inefficient and unreliable. The Age of Sail ended long ago. It makes no sense to gamble trillions of dollars on the Pickens Plan when a proven solution lies beneath our feet right now. Drill for it.
,
one would need a huge back up reserve to put wind power on line ... likely over 90%
and he proposes to fill that reserve with gas fueled generators built with huge 'wind tax credits' (read: the earned income of others)
AND this self-serving windbag just happens to be huge in natural gas
.
Shut up T Boone
Windpower as a viable energy source is about as realistic as Oklahoma State football being a consistent winner. Pickens is pissing his money away on both.
ah, yes windmill power
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_071608/content/01125109.guest.html
I don't think T-BONE is talking about HIS $$
METHINKS he is talking about our $$
And all those combined cannot provide our energy needs, not even close.
Could it be because he owns so much interest in those areas? McCain IS calling for more drilling and building more nuclear facilities, which is the only logical choice that can meet our energy needs.
Truthguy, you are so correct in what you say. I differ with you only in that I say follow the money. T.Boone figures to gain another fortune in government subsidies from this nonsense.
Good point!!!
No it isn't. But regardless 99% of our economy is driven by oil and oil products. You can't make bumpers for cars out of windmill poop, but we can make plastic ones from petroleum products.
And I don't agree with natural gas for auto fuel either. our supplies are rapidly depleting and forcing us to buy more and more from other countries, mainly Canada. Even if and when we tap into new supplies from offshore and alaska, it still won't replace what we've already used up from other local sources.
There is nothing wrong with bio fuels like ethanol and bio diesel for taking the load off oil demands for fuel. The rumors that it harms our food supply are completely bogus.
Yeah, he’s trying to save his natural gas position. By shifting usage away from power generation to vehicles he’s establishing a future market for his holdings.
What we need to do is tap into those huge methane ice fields off our eastern coast. There is enough there to fill the gas lines for many hundreds of years.
If Pickens really believes this, doesn’t he already have the seed money to make it so?
I have been trying to find numbers on these things and what I have found is that basically no one knows what the hell they are talking about when it comes to windmills. BUT if a 1 Megawatt turbine ran at 30% capacity for 24 hours it would produce the energy equivalent of about 240 gallons of gasoline. Not bad. If this energy was used to generate Hydrogen we could put that in the existing natural gas pipelines for transmission.
I don’t know but I could maybe come around on this wind energy thing, but it would have to be done WITHOUT GUMMINT SUBSIDY. Oh, and the article from 2003 I found was very helpful on the cost and the author pointed out that the money to dismantle the things needs to be factored in and held in escrow while they are in operation. (Very good point).
In a situation like this the first thing to do is “follow the money.” Would not be the least bit surprised that he is heavily invested in natural gas and wind technology.
Pickens has large land holdings in west Texas and has bought hundreds of turbines himself, hoping to sell energy to the cities. He’s just trying to create a new energy business for himself; he’s a businessman who’s dealing from both sides of the deck. It would be like a guy before the beginning of the oil boom trying to extoll the virtues of crude oil because he already went out and bought over 600 derricks.
Good for him trying to make a buck, but playing off the fears to strongarm his investments to the forefront is questionable.
BINGO, he has considerable holdings in Natural Gas and he has been focusing most of his investing on Windpower over the last couple of years. He’s being opportunistic for sure, but is it a bad thing? Our nation needs capitalists like him to keep injecting money into the economy.
Yes it is. At 68% it is nearly triple the amount that goes to industry to make products.
Breakdown of Petroleum Product Supplied
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbblpd_a.htm
How many trillions of dollars in debt is necessary to declare bankruptcy?
I think we’ve been there for quite a while and nobody’s asking questions. Are we stupid or blind?
This will help set Pickins’ plan in motion. (guess who gets to pay for it?)
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/16429
I wouldn’t lose much sleep over T. Boone Pickens’ push for wind energy.
He has gotten out of the oil ‘bidness’ and invested heavily in wind energy. For him, it’s just “bidness” as usual - lining his own pocket.
Reminds me of a Sunday morning infomercial, I can just imagine people waving @20 bills in the audiance pretending they can’t wait to buy in.
T. Boone Pickens' company Mesa Energy has begun building the world's largest wind farm. But he (and Mesa) has hardly gotten out of the oil industry.
BUT, all Pickens is doing is trying to get the government(American taxpayers) to pay for the transmission lines for his windmills...
DRILL HERE! DRILL NOW!
In Texas, the transmission lines will be paid for by the rate payer.
If the Panhandle Loop eventually came to be, Picken's wind project would be rolled into it.
Thanks but I have my hands full trying to get CA on cogneneration nuclear power and offshore drilling.
I understand. Texas is unique in regards to electricity because we have a stand-alone grid and what happens here doesn’t have much bearing on other states. You have to deal with FERC.
What a self-serving creep. He is blasting calls to drill offshore saying it “can’t save us”, even though he made his fortune from oil. Now that he is making his new fortune from wind and solar, that is the only answer. And he is pimping Al Gore for “Energy Czar” under Obama! This from a guy who funded the SwiftVets. What a jerk.
If con is the opposite of pro, doesn't that mean that congress is the opposite of progress.
Yeah, that’s just what I want! A bunch of damn windmills in my backyard and all over the countryside! What a moron!
This is the same guy that think Al Gore should be energy czar.
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