Picken’s Plan
By Karina | July 16, 2008
Have y’all heard of T. Boone Pickens? I hadn’t, but someone pointed out to me that there was this Texas Oil Man all over the television today making some good points about our oil reserves and how we have to stop importing so much foreign oil. The commercial is here, if you haven’t seen it. The commercial touches on some provocative issues that I do feel pretty strongly about - like the true cost of war in the Middle East, for example. It is intriguing! And I love finding out that I have things in common with disparate people like an Oil Man from Texas. So I thought I should learn more about T. Boone Pickens.
Apparently, Picken’s has a plan. He calls it the Picken’s Plan, and the major features are:
- stop using foreign oil
- use wind power as much as possible and
- use natural gas for all vehicular needs.
So, I am a big fan of a lot of the aspects of his plan. And I definitely agree with his goals! But I wish he would mention CONSERVATION as a major cornerstone. He states in the commercial that our use of foreign oil since 1970 has increased dramatically - from 24% in 1970 to 42% in 1990 to almost 70% of our total oil used. I haven’t crunched the numbers but I would hazard that our USE of oil has increased dramatically in the same time period. It’s disingenuous to pitch a plan dedicated to reducing the amount of foreign oil used without addressing the reason why that amount has been increasing exponentially. It’s because we are driving bigger cars further distances to get to our bigger (and therefore harder to heat and cool) homes, for one. (Although to be totally fair, he is quoted in this article as saying: “Conservation alone will not solve our dependence on foreign oil, but it is part of the mix.”)
Also I’m not a fan of switching over to natural gas. I know that automobile batteries aren’t up to speed and we can’t switch over to electricity (and also, where would that electricity all come from)? But we just can’t switch over to natural gas. To begin with, I am not a fan of off-shore drilling. I say conserve now and save that energy for when we really need it. And off-shore is where lots of natural gas lies, even though he bases his plan on releasing the natural gas currently used for production of electricity (once the wind turbines are producing electricity) for transportation needs.
Most simply, there’s also the whole “why switch from one fossil fuel to another one?” question.
But the strongest argument I have against using natural gas as our major transportation energy source is an economic one. Natural gas is used in a lot of different things. It’s used to produce plastics, fabrics, steel, paint, glass, and probably most importantly, chemical fertilizer. Y’all think that ethanol, biodiesel, and their impact on food systems and costs are a big deal now? Try diverting natural gas away from manufacturing fertilizer and see how quickly food prices go up. While I advocate for locally and organically grown foods, we are obviously nowhere near that system now. I would also point out that the natural gas market has historically been very price-volatile. You can see (not graphically, I’m afraid) the way prices have been increasing steadily for residential natural gas purposes…with a big jump in price in the late 90s/early 2000s, which is when, if memory serves me correctly, home heating systems using natural gas were marketed more heavily (at least here in the northeast USA).
But I am glad that this maverick Oil Man is raising the energy issues in such a straight-forward way. He is all over the TV, I’ve heard, and he’s got forums that are very active. People are starting local action groups and I hope that they will start to talk about these big issues - and about how their Tiny Choices influence the big issues.
Have you heard of the Picken’s Plan? What do you think?
Photo of Boone Pickens from his website.
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Topics: Transportation, Work & Politics |
Wow, apparently the T. Boone Pickens story is showing in other places, too! I thought maybe it was just a Texas Thing. I’m cautiously optimistic that he’s trying to do the right thing . . . I’m a bit cynical about his motives (he *is* an oilman after all), but I’m hopeful that he wants to help the environment.
That said, I think the current focus on reducing dependence on foreign oil (in general in the “news”) is really shortsighted — why not try and reduce our dependence on ALL oil, not just the stuff we get from other countries?
I am also hopeful that at very least this new way of looking at the environment will be a gateway to conservation!
Great place to Discuss Energy Environment Issues :
Energy Environment Forum
Cheers !
thanks, scotty, for the link to another one of Picken’s sites. I didn’t link it directly in the article above.
I’ve seen his commercial a few times, but never remembered to look up the plan. I am skeptical of any “Texas Oilman’s” anything–you just know he’s got a lot invested in natural gas–but maybe someone like him can convince people who are skeptical of global warning or are pro-war or whatever that there IS an energy problem and get them on board to make different/better choices about energy use.
he’s also got a lot invested in wind energy. his mesa companies have got their fingers in every economic aspect of this pie!
It’s just another plan to try to prop up the status quo. No such plan is feasible. Any realistic plan must focus on using less.
well said Adrenne!
as much as i like to believe people … i’m just having a hard time with this one. i’ll be so happy when mr. pickens proves me wrong.
[…] Tiny Choices talks about Picken’s Plan. […]
I saw the commercials too and I’m skeptical of natural gas as automotive fuel. Consevation should be the centerpiece of any rescue plan. Lucky for us, our economy isn’t as dependent on energy prices as it was in the 1970s - ah, the benefits of being an Information Age economy!
No matter how things shake out, I’m sure T. Boone Pickens will get rich!
You totally missed the point. 1, 2, 3 are not seperate points - they’re related.
It’s:
Stop using natural gas for electricity.
Substitute windpower which would cut our fossil fuel use/co2 generation/global warming about 22/72(we use 50% coal + 22% natural gas for electric power). Roughly 1/3.
Start using natural gas for transportation, substituting it for oil imports.
Actually pickens points out LNG vehicles have be around forever. There’s 8 million on the road now (if I quote him right). It can be better for an engine because it doesn’t mix or dissolve the oil on the cylinder walls.
Pickens is going to try kick-starting this in california via bond issue for vehicle conversions to natural gas. This will get past the chicken/egg prob.
By the way - others are advocating flavors of use natural for transport / not for electricity.
I’ve never been a fan of using natural gas for transport, regardless of what others may advocate, because of the climate change and supply/price fluctuation issues.
Of course we will need a transition fuel, but after studying this kind of intensely in graduate school, I don’t think we can go from a single source fuel (gasoline/diesel) for transportation to another magical golden bullet of a single source fuel - there just isn’t the same supply, production infrastructure, etc. for ANY of the transportation fuel options out there, and it’s unlikely that 1. plant-based fuels will be able to support american habits and 2. that we will be able to ramp up the kind of intensive infrastructure needed for another fuel like CNG or LNG or hydrogen or methane in the short period of time we have before prices REALLY get outrageous.
I do hope there will be a bunch of different fuel choices for the immediate future, with, again hopefully, some kind of brilliant battery solution in the not-too-long-term future that can take advantage of all of that wind/solar power we’re not capturing. And I am always hopeful for conservation and efficiency as the first “source” of energy!
The first time I saw the commercial, it immediately captured my interest. Here is a man, who made most of his fortune in oil, admitting that the end of that source is in sight. Who better to be an advocate of alternative energy sources. Remember, it is a plan. And, might I add, as credible as any other I’ve read.
I am encouraged to see many public figures “getting on the Green Bandwagon”.