Lots going on this morning. Charlie Rose has been in for the weekend to visit and to interview me about the Pickens Plan. He got to drive the Honda Civic GX—the natural gas car I drive to work. Then he came up to the office to do the face-to-face interview.

It being Monday morning, though, I had to have my regular meeting with the guys who watch over the money. 

I told Charlie, “This is a serious meeting. No acting.” But I let him and his camera crew stay in.

Then, after the meeting, as long as I had him in my office he got the full White Board Lecture. 

A few other things. In the Wall Street Journal this morning there is a whole section on the environment. In the discussion about cars, the Journal says that for every mile the average car drives, it emits about one pound of carbon. Tom Friedman uses the same calculation in his book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.”

The Journal article says that over the expected life of a standard gasoline-powered car, it will emit about 53 metric tons of carbon dioxide. A natural gas powered passenger car will emit less than 40 metric tons over the same period of time. If you include carbon MONOXIDE emissions, a natural gas car saves 97% over a standard gasoline model.

Final reading assignment for the morning. The Nature writer, David Horst, for the Appleton (Wis) Post-Crescent newspaper (which is a member of the Gannett chain) had an excellent column about the Pickens Plan, which I think you ought to read and pass along. Click here to read Horst’s column.

— Boone