The following comments were excerpted from remarks made by T. Boone Pickens on America’s Energy Future at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on April 26.

ON FUNDING THE TALIBAN
We’re paying for both sides of the war. Anybody that doesn’t believe that I don’t think is very smart. You look at [former CIA Director James] Woolsey’s op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal two weeks ago. He clearly points out that money paid for oil in the Middle East is going to fund the Taliban. Somebody that would argue with that will lose. Very few people believe that we aren’t funding both sides.

ON AMERICA’S ADDICTION TO FOREIGN OIL
What we get from the Middle East every day is five million barrels. But we import 14 million. So here we are – the only country in the world that imports almost 70 percent of the oil we use. We use 21 million barrels a day in the United States out of 85 million [produced worldwide]. So we are importing 25 percent of [the world’s oil] with four percent of the population. Is that sustainable?

I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I have heard people in this country when I say that they say the reason is because we’re more highly industrialized. And my response is, “The rest of the world doesn’t give a damn.” You’re not going to use 25 percent of the oil with four percent of the people. That is not the way it is going to work.

ON ENDING AMERICA’S ADDICTION TO FOREIGN OIL
We have to get on our own resources in this country, and we do have resources, and we can accomplish that. This president said he was going to do it.

We can cut OPEC in half. We can cut five million barrels in half by just moving our 18-wheelers – eight million of them – to natural gas. They go to natural gas, and you can cut the five million in half. You will make a dent that will be felt around the world because they will say, “America is back. America now is going to take care of its own energy problems and not rely on the enemy.” That can happen. It can happen in the next five to seven years.

ON AMERICA’S ABUNDANT NATURAL GAS
We have more natural gas than any other country in the world, and we are sitting here like clucks, serious clucks. There are 12 million vehicles in the world today on natural gas, and we have 130,000. And we have the most natural gas? Now figure that one out.

A lot of people say, “Natural gas is volatile, and we wouldn’t want to get it into a transportation fuel.” Let me explain at this point that one MCF of natural gas is equivalent to seven gallons of diesel. One MCF of natural gas is $4. Seven gallons of diesel in $21. You can have an awful lot of volatility between four and twenty-one and still be cheaper than the fuel you’re displacing.

ON OTHER COUNTRIES
Look at the Germans! They have more wind turbines than other country, and they don’t have any wind! They don’t want Russian gas and oil. They’re smart enough to know that the Russian gas and oil could be a lot more dangerous and more expensive than putting wind turbines up without any wind.

ON THE PICKENS PLAN
I know it’s going to be done. There’s no question. America has to get on our own resources. We have an abundant, clean resource. It’s cleaner by 30 percent than diesel.

We’re going to get it done. America is going to get it done because all of us are going to put pressure on Congress. I’ve got 1.7 million people signed up with PickensPlan.com. Sign up with me. It’s all about energy. It’s all about energy for us and generations in the future. We are going to get it done! It’s going to be done this year.

Watch the complete video HERE.

COMMENTS EDITED AND CONDENSED BY ERIC O’KEEFE