Pickens Says U.S. Can – and Should – Wash Its Hands of OPEC

In the wake of the deteriorating situation in Iraq, The Wall Street Journal followed T. Boone Pickens to get his take on the implications of renewed sectarian violence and the global price of oil. His response? For America to get on its own resources.

“You could knock OPEC out, 75% of it, with heavy-duty trucks” running on natural gas instead of diesel, Pickens said. “You have so much leverage by having our own fuel in the US, it’s incredible. But you don’t have any leadership in Washington.”

Speaking in Houston on Monday with Waste Management CEO David Steiner, Pickens and Steiner said that the transition to natural gas-burning vehicles is happening. But both men agreed that the shift would happen much more quickly if the government helped to fund needed infrastructure like fueling stations, and offers tax incentives to defray the more expensive up-front cost of buying trucks and cars that run on natural gas.

Read more HERE.