T. Boone Pickens was a guest on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, discussing the future of domestic energy with host Tom Brokaw.
In the discussion, Boone made it clear that the only way for President-elect Obama to make good on his promise to import no oil from the Middle East within 10 years was the Pickens Plan.
“I believe him when he says that, which tells me he has a plan, and that plan would have to use natural gas, because natural gas is the one and only fuel that moves an 18-wheeler other than diesel and gasoline.
“You can’t do it with a hybrid. You can’t do it with battery. You can’t do it with a fuel cell. the only fuel — so when you — it’s not like we’re choosing a fuel. It’s the only fuel that we have in America that will replace foreign oil. “
Boone also talked about the future of Wind Energy and the effect developing wind will have on the economy:
“I don’t receive my first turbine until 2010, so I’ll get it done, and we’ll be going by 2010. It’s — we have to get — in America we have to get on our own resources, and wind and solar are going to have to be used.
“The first year when you start that program — and it should be started within the next year or two — that when you start that program, the first year will be 138,000 jobs and by the time you finish it, it will be 3.5 million jobs.”
Brokaw asked Boone whether the drop in oil and gasoline prices will have an effect on the drive toward alternative fuels:
“Well, first, we’re importing almost 70%. I think that is a huge security problem for the country. If you look back over the history of oil prices, gasoline prices, we’ve yo-yoed at times. In the 1970s the price went up, and then we had plenty of oil all at once from the Middle East. When we did, the price went down. We put away any ideas of renewables at that point, and then in the 1908s, the 1990s, and here we are again, the price has gone down, so, oh, boy, we’re fixed.
“Well, we’re not fixed because we’re still importing almost 70%. This is great to have cheaper gasoline prices. No question about that. If there’s anything that helps our economy it’s lower energy costs. There are only two ways you can go, Tom, on this. One, you have an energy plan to solve the problem and if you don’t have an energy plan, that means you’re for foreign oil.
“It’s going to come down to very clear up or down, and it’s going to be the American people are going to — are going to demand an energy plan for the future generations of our country.”
For a transcript of the entire conversation between T. Boone Pickens and Tom Brokaw, click here.
— The Pickens Team