T. Boone Pickens was the speaker at the opening session of the National Governors’ Association conference in Washington, DC on Saturday February 21.
Boone told the Governors of more than 30 States who were in attendance about the Pickens Plan (14 Governors have already signed on) and why the Plan is so important to their states.
He reminded the Governors that America has three percent of the world’s reserves, four percent of the world’s population but uses 25 percent of the world’s oil.
Boone also told them that since Richard Nixon first promised to make America energy independent in 1974, the percentage of the oil we use which comes from foreign sources has risen from just over 20 percent to just under 70 percent.
“If we don’t reverse this trend over the next ten years,” Boone said, “we will be importing 75 percent of our oil and paying between $200 and $300 per barrel.”
Boone said that at $300 per barrel “you won’t have to worry about healthcare or education. They will be solved. How? We won’t have any money left to deal with either one.”
The Pillars of the Pickens Plan include building out our wind and solar capacity; refitting homes and buildings to make them more energy efficient; and the design and construction of a 21st century transmission grid.
If we reach our goal of providing 20 percent of our electricity from wind and solar, we need a modern grid to move that power from where it is being generated to where it needs to be used.
Boone also spoke about moving from imported diesel and gasoline as the principal transportation fuel to other, newer and cleaner technologies.
He talked about domestic natural gas as the only fuel – other than imported diesel – which can be used to power the 6.5 million 18-wheelers on America’s roads. “A battery won’t power an 18-wheeler” Boone reminded the Governors.
He urged the adoption of a test which would provide incentives for truckers, as they upgrade their fleets, to replace trucks running on imported diesel with domestic Liquified Natural Gas which, he said, “is cheaper, cleaner, abundant and it’s ours.”
He said that every heavy-duty truck running on diesel which is replaced by a truck running on domestic natural gas is the equivalent of taking 325 cars burning gasoline off the road.
— The Pickens Team