Earlier this week, T. Boone Pickens joined a blue-chip roster of industry leaders and select government officials at the 2013 ARPA-E Energy Summit, which was held at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The purpose of the annual gathering is to bring together thought leaders from academia, business, and government to discuss cutting-edge energy issues and facilitate relationships to help move technologies into the marketplace.
In addition to Pickens, some of the other speakers included Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman, Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, and SpaceX Founder Elon Musk.
Speaking to reporters, Pickens said that anyone who would reject the Keystone XL pipeline would be a “fool.” “[The oil sands are] gonna be produced. You aren’t going to change Canada,” he told the media.
“Let’s just assume the Canadians are going to produce the oil sands. Well, why would we be stupid enough to let it go to China? I mean now, [if] you want to go down as the dumbest crowd in history, it’s that you would let the oil from up there … to get out of your grasp,” Pickens said.