Posted on 07/24/2008 3:48:43 PM PDT by kellynla
Liberals have done a U-turn on conservative billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens.
Formerly reviled for funding the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign against Sen. John Kerry, he's now adored by the Left — unfortunately, for trying to gaslight the rest of us on energy policy.
This column recently spotlighted Pickens' proposed plan to get America off foreign oil by substituting wind-generated electricity for natural gas-generated electricity and then using the natural gas to replace gasoline.
Already having addressed the proposal's flaws — and Pickens' plan to profit at taxpayer expense from it — let's consider how Pickens' marketing shades the truth.
On his Web site and in TV commercials, Pickens tries to frighten Americans about being "addicted to foreign oil."
"In 1970, we imported 24 percent of our oil. Today, it's nearly 70 percent and growing," he intones.
Aside from the fact that the Department of Energy (DOE) puts the import figure at a more moderate 58 percent, Pickens gives the impression that imported oil is scary because it all comes from the unstable Mideast.
His TV commercials feature images of American soldiers fighting in Iraq and he likens the annual $700 billion cost of foreign oil to "four times the annual cost of the Iraq war."
But hold the phone. Only 16 percent of our imported oil comes from the Persian Gulf — barely up from 13.6 percent in 1973, according to the DOE. Imports from OPEC countries are actually down — from 47.8 percent in 1973 to 44.5 percent in 2007.
Contrary to Pickens' assertion that oil imports are growing, the DOE expects oil imports to decrease by 10 percent by 2030.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
ping
T. Bonehead
Windpower won’t get it done. He has been floundering lately, might consider retiring.
T Boone is lookin’ to git get some more T-Bills..................
Pickns' testimony before the Senate committee on energy was interesting. He basically said, "do everything-- if it's American it's good." While I agree wind power is never going to provide more than a few percent of our energy needs, (and I know Pickens has invested heavily in Texas wind), put nuclear energy in the equation instead and you have a plan worth enacting.
Somewhere Pickins has the rights to a piece of the action concerning wind power and will profit from it
http://earth2tech.com/2008/04/14/t-boone-pickens-kicking-off-the-worlds-largest-wind-farm/
April 14th, 2008
Our favorite oil-baron-turned-wind-power-wildcatter, T. Boone Pickens, will make the first down payment this month on 500 wind turbines for his plan to build the world’s largest wind farm in Texas, says the Guardian. Over the next four years, Pickens plans to build 2,700 wind turbines that would supply 4,000 megawatts — enough to power 1 million homes.
It’s interesting that Pickens tells the Guardian that the wind farm will cost $10 billion to build, because we’ve previously heard figures closer to $6 billion (via the WSJ). Perhaps Pickens underestimated the cost last year. As we pointed out in February, the cost of the raw materials to build turbines, as well as demand for turbines themselves, have been lifting the upfront costs of building wind farms.
I’m betting he’s more heavily invested in nat gas production. (other than his own).
He’s barking about wind to get the greenies on board.
“Somewhere Pickins has the rights to a piece of the action concerning wind power and will profit from it”
Of course...he is invested heavily in windmills...
BUT, he needs your & my tax dollars to build the transmission lines.
You didn’t really think he was running his mouth just to hear himself talk now did ya! LOL
Another journalist who doesn’t understand the term “swift boating”.
T Boone doesnt do anything that doesnt benefit T Boone....looks at all the LNG he is supplying to the Port of LA.
Energy independence in 6 easy steps.
#1. Drill
#2. Keep drilling.
#3. Oil-to-diesel plants in every coal producing state.
#4. Oil shale big-time.
#5. Nukes.
#6. More nukes.
Did I mention wind energy? No? If you want to build wind farms in your spare time, fine go for it. Solar, whatever, let a thousand blossoms bloom. But do those 6 and do them now, and we can replace mid-east oil in 5 years. Not 20, not 15, we can do it quicker than you might imagine. We just have to do it. It has to become a priority, and government has to get out of the way.
T Boone (love the name) is a bigger blowhard than most of his tilted windmills.
Nothing wrong with windpower, more is fine, problem is, it just ain’t enough in a more realistic and empirical way.
Keep drilling, keep refining, keep opening nuclear power plants.
“Peak oil” is a long, long way off. Who knows what’s next?
Scuse me if I don’t believe good ole T Boone.
LBJ once said that anytime anyone came up to him and told him that he “was just a good ole country boy” LBJ always put his hand over his wallet. I believe that might apply in this situation.
Didn’t he get out of oil and into alternatives? Good reason for an Ad.
What I want to know is--what does ALGORE plan to do with all the millions of gasoline cars? Crush them to make new cars or sell them to Mexicans?
should be t bone.
He intends to make billions investing in alternative energy, reaping government (aka taxpayers' money) funding.
He is going to move BIG TIME into Carbon Cap&Trade trading, to be implemented soon for the phoney global warming that was designed to provide international businesses a cash-cow opportunity at the expense of us all....
Sorry. I differ with the most of you all. I’m for anything that cuts the money supply from the arabs, dictators and commies. I think we should do everything and not rely on any one thing ever again. Oil has got to go as the main fuel in the long run, but drill for now. Just never forget what oil has done to our economy the past 5 years. Anyone ever think what our economy would be if we hadn’t sent all that money for oil overseas the past 5 or more years. Sure Mr. Pickens will profit. Its his money he put up. Seen anyone else putting up any money to do anything to help this crisis lately. They are few. The government wastes money on a lot of other useless things why not some infrastructure investment. Better than some bat study or perverted so called art.
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