T. Boone Pickens asserts the need to become energy independent the American way (0:39).

 

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By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) held a press conference Wednesday with billionaire clean energy advocate T. Boone Pickens to present the bipartisan New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act (NAT GAS), which aims to provide financial incentives for the use of natural gas.

“Our economic crisis has shined a spotlight on the urgent need for alternative, cleaner, and cheaper sources of energy that we don’t have to import,” Menendez said. “By making it easier and cheaper to own a vehicle that runs in natural gas, we can help families save money on energy, create new manufacturing jobs and clear our air.”

According to Pickens’ website, www.PickensPlan.com, the U.S. possesses a secure and abundant supply of natural gas, with estimated domestic reserves nearly twice that of petroleum. The website also claims that natural gas is 85 percent cleaner and 75 percent cheaper than petroleum.

“We have dramatically increased our nation’s natural gas reserves. We have much more natural gas than we thought we had just a few years ago. And there is a sufficient supply to significantly increase the use of cleaner, greener fuel, as a transportation fuel,” explained Hatch.

The NAT GAS Act will extend and increase tax credits for natural gas vehicles and refueling for state and local governments, as well as manufactures.

Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News

T. Boone Pickens Says he doesn’t actually own any natural gas, but it is a necessary bridging fuel for “the next twenty-five years or longer.”

Ellen Ratner speaks with T. Boone Pickens on his energy plan. Pickens advocates switching to natural gas for many current oil consumers. (5:28)

 

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Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, for Talk Radio News

Entrepreneur T.Boone Pickens points out the advantages of natural gas, the ease of conversion, and the possibility of ending dependence on foreign oil.

 

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Coffee Brown University of New Mexico, for Talk Radio News Service

During two energy conferences in Washington, DC, Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu said that a new, expanded, robust, and smart electric grid is the big ticket item for his department in the just-signed stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).

We are moving away, he said from locally produced power in pursuit of alternative energies, such as wind and solar, which are favored by geography in sparsely populated areas. As energy is produced in a fluctuating pattern due to local weather, and then sent farther away, a computerized grid which can direct, even out, monitor and store power will be needed. This coordination will extend even to homes, where fluctuations in use or peak draws can be managed to limit brown- and black-outs. he described circadian pricing, rewarding users who shift usage away from peak hours, and buy-back credits for homes which actually produce power as examples of smart distribution at the home level.

Chu noted that the new grid could be a target, so robust design was a security priority.
While wind power is as high as 20 percent in some areas, it is only three percent of overall production, and will need to mature and expand over a decade or more to compete on a cost-per-kilowatt basis.

Chu has made a priority of streamlining funding of shovel-ready projects, which were facing delays of up to two years for approval.

At the second conference, chaired by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and attended by entrepreneur and hedge fund manager T.Boone Pickens, the question of new regulatory agencies came up, as power distribution became less regional and more interconnected. Reid said that he thought it could be handled administratively.

Pickens said that there are vast reserves of natural gas at several fields in the U.S., far more than would be needed to bridge the gap to non-carbon pumping energy production. Trucks, he said, can never run on batteries but can easily be converted from gasoline to natural gas, which is 30 percent cleaner and would create many American jobs and businesses.

Chu concluded by saying that carbon capture and climate change are important topics that will be addressed in later stages of the program.

Texan tycoon T. Boone Pickens Jr. announced that he will be launching a program to offer the public a monthly update on how much the U.S. is spending on foreign oil.

Pickens, appearing at a press conference alongside activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., drew attention to December’s figures, in which the U.S. imported 379.6 million barrels of oil, which added up to $19.3 billion dollars. This amount, Pickens contends, could fun D.C.’s schools for nearly four hundred years.

In regard to the public’s interest, Pickens commented that he believes there is a demand for the information.

“I know my nearly 370,000 members of the Picken’s Plan that I’m in communication with… want to see them, I think it’s a pretty good sampling of what America wants to see. You watch, we’ll elevate the interest in this if we do it every month,” said Pickens.

He went went on to say that he believed the program will result in lowering the amount of money spent on foreign oil.

“The fun of it will be….when we reduce that number, and that is going to happen. We will reduce that number.

While the Department of Energy releases this information already, Kennedy Jr. noted that it tends to not be publicized, a situation that the nephew of assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy blames on the media.

“We’re very grateful in the environmental community for this plans{plan} by Mr. Pickens to release this date, and highlight this date, and publicize it,” said Kennedy.

He continued, “The big problem really with the environment in this Country is intertwined with problems in our democracy. We have a press that is really not functioning to inform us about the issues that we need to understand in order to make rational decisions in a democracy.”

T. Boone Pickens is the author of the Picken’s Plan, which calls for installing thousands of wind turbines in the U.S. wind corridor and using natural gas to replace the gasoline used for transportation.

The Energy Daily and Covanta Energy hosted a media breakfast with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) to discuss the congressional outlook on energy. At the forefront of discussions was the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Moratorium. The OCS Moratorium was put in place by Congress in 1981 to protect America’s coasts from threats of oil and gas developments as well as to prevent leasing of coastal waters for fossil fuel development. (more…)

Coverage will consist of White House Correspondent Lovisa Frost reporting on the morning gaggle and press briefing from the White House. U.N. Correspondent Dan Patterson will be reporting from the United Nations about a recent Dali Lama protest and will be covering briefings in the afternoon. (more…)

T. Boone Pickens, chairman and CEO of BP Capital, spoke today at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on renewable energy. Pickens says that the United States is importing 70 percent of oil and exporting $700 billion to foreign nations for that oil. He says in 10 years we will have put 10 trillion dollars out of the country. The United States needs to expand its use of renewable energy. Pickens says that renewable energy sources are the solution but the transmission systems need to be streamlined with the help of Congress and private enterprise. (1:45)

 

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