"We're Going to Need It All," Says Tim Pawlenty

As Governor of Minnesota, what’s your energy platform?
I’m an all of the above energy advocate. We’re going to need it all.

Sounds like you and Boone have a very similar approach.
I think that the Pickens Plan that T. Boone Pickens has promoted is a good idea and one that I think the country should embrace. He’s been bold, and he’s been quite effective in educating the American population about the challenge.

Skyrocketing energy costs played a big part as well.
But he’s also offered a solution. And his plan to try to move more and more of our base-load energy and electric energy needs to wind can then free up the current and future natural gas capacity for other uses, including cars and trucks using natural gas, makes a lot of sense because we’re not going to be able to have just a one solution to our energy problems. We’re going to need it all. I think he brings a very valuable and important and helpful idea to the table, one that should be pursued.

Did the stimulus package address energy needs adequately?
I think once the dust settles a little more on the bill, people are going to see and governors are going to see there’s a lot of opportunity there to advance the cause of cleaner, more secure, more Americanized energy. And again, just to get back to the earlier point, we’re going to need it all. Anybody who tells you there is only one solution to this, even as it relates to a subcategory like vehicles, isn’t thinking as comprehensively as they should. I think there’s going to be room and should be room for natural-gas-powered vehicles. Both plug-in and hybrid electric cars are going to be part of the future. If we have a breakthrough on biofuels, that’s going to open up new doors for next-generation biofuels production and biofuel-powered cars. I say hurrah to all of it as long as it makes rational economic sense and it’s derived from American sources of energy. We need more things made in America. We need to be less reliant on foreign sources of energy for all the obvious reasons, and we’re going to need all of the above.

Boone likes to point out that we have the answers. They are right here, in our own backyard.
It brings a lot of momentum to the message when you have a renowned and respected energy expert like T. Boone Pickens saying we’ve got to do things differently. That makes people sit up and listen. He’s done a great service to the country.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED, CONDENSED, AND EDITED BY ERIC O’KEEFE