Despite Political Past, Pickens Pushing For Clean Energy

A Texas billionaire says he’s the man with the plan to fix our energy problems. T. Boone Pickens came to Indian Wells to sell his plan.

But, his past politics may be his biggest obstacle.

“I’m T. Boone Pickens,” the tycoon introduced on his latest video on PickensPlan.com. “I’m the man with the plan to stop our dependence on foreign oil. Keep billions of American dollars at home, and, in the first year alone, create 138,000 new manufacturing jobs. My plan bets on our resources and our workers: American wind power, American natural gas, American know-how.”

Many of those with that “know how” gathered in Indian Wells to hear the 80-year-old oil and natural gas tycoon speak.

“How many of you have gone on the website for Pickens plan?” asked Pickens at the Clean Tech Investor Summit. Most of the 500 in attendance raised their hand.

Pickens sat down with News Channel 3 to explain his wide-ranging plan. Instead of foreign gasoline powering our cars, Pickens wants to use American natural gas. He wants to put windmills similar to the ones in our Desert and put them all over the Great Plains. And, he needs government money to get it started.

The long-time Republican says he gave the plan’s blueprint to former President Bush, but he never acted on it.

Pickens recalled, “I went to him in April of 2008 and laid out the plan, and asked him. I said, ‘look. You can leave the White House with an energy legacy that a lot better than the ethanol precedent.’ He said, ‘I can’t finish the plan.’ And, I said he can have the blueprint and take credit for it. That was in April. I waited 6 weeks and he didn’t say a word about it.”

But the 2004 “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” campaign video Pickens funded maydamage his chances of getting the bill past the Democratically controlled senate.

The political ad showed Vietman War veterans stating, “John Kerry has not been honest. He lacks the capacity to lead. When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry.”

Pickens says he’s made peace with Democratic leaders, “I think it was just like Harry Reid said. ‘Boone, if you say politics is not involved, you’re out of the deal, we believe you.’ So, I think my credibility is good with him.”

There are innovative ideas on display in Indian Wells pointing to future technologies. Pickens tells this crowd we cannot afford as a nation to wait. We must use the alternatives to gasoline we have now.

To learn more, go to www.pickensplan.comorwww.cleantechsummit.com.