T. Boone Pickens appeared on CNBC Thursday morning live from the Wall Street Journal’s Eco-nomic Conference in California.
Boone talked about moving “the 8 million 18-wheelers” in the United States from burning imported diesel to running on domestic natural gas. He said that the nation should follow the “Southern California model” which has put a great emphasis on changing trucks at major ports; refuse and recycling trucks; as well as municipal and school buses to running on natural gas.
Boone also singled out for a compliment AT&T which has made a major commitment to replace 8,000 of its domestic fleet of trucks from gasoline or diesel to natural gas.
When asked if the relatively stable price of gasoline (at about $3 per gallon) were an impediment to using natural gas, Boone did the arithmetic on the air:
“One mcf of natural gas equals seven gallons of diesel,” he said. “Seven gallons of diesel – at three dollars – costs $21. One mcf of natural gas costs $5.”
Boone’s point was: Price alone is reason enough to start this process and get the NAT GAS Act to the floor of the House and Senate for passage and to the desk of the President for his signature.
— The Pickens Team