WORTHAM: The Pickens plan

The Pickens "Plan" is the biggest SCAM to hit this country in many a decade. Stealing TRILLIONS of dollars from the people to advance energy sources that range from ten to twenty TIMES more expensive than those supplied from fossil fuels is ludicrous on its face. That it is supported by the 'state-owns-everything' collectivist party, and various idiots like the global warmists and the return to the stone age crowd should give every American sufficient reason to hasten to HIDE HIS WALLET.

I won't claim that 80 year old, billionaire Pickens is really trying to pick the pockets of Americans. That doesn't mean that he has everything right either. Adding energy to the grid is great - because energy is energy and we need it. Leaving aside the issue of subsidizing clean tech, the Pickens plan gets it wrong in its choice of transferring energy from the grid to our cars. In order to break free of oil we need to make that transfer. In mandating cars that run off natural gas, we are setting ourselves up for another ride with a cartel - this time with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Gulf states. It would be far smarter to mandate/subsidize-to-some-extent/somehow encourage Plug-in hybrid flex-fuel vehicles. Plug-ins would allow cars to be fueled directly off the grid (for however long the battery will run), hybrid would allow greater efficiency, and flex-fuel would allow that after the battery has run out of juice, the liquid fuel can be any combination of oil, ethanol or methanol. If natural gas is available, then it can be used to make methanol. But we wouldn't be locked into that marriage - we could use trash or CO2 for methanol, or algae, sugar-cane, etc. for ethanol. The US should learn its lesson in fuel dependence. Fuel choice is the strategic way forward.

The story of what wind has done for the Sweetwater community is a classic American story and hopefully one that will be replicated numerous times throughout the midwest in coming years.

Go T boone! wow! this movement of implementing alternative and domestic energy lead by t boone pickens is fantastic. The plan has a handful of positive things...just like this article states. economic benefits, healthier alternative to the polluting energy we use currently, plus making our energy domestic!!!! If you haven't seen the website for the plan yet, go to push.pickensplan.com. it is great! i read the plan on the site and grasped an even better understanding of what T boone is doing!

One of main differences between Boone Pickens and the rest of us isn’t just that he has a comprehensive energy plan, but that he has the ability to grasp “big picture” situations. It takes people like him (or Gates or Buffett) – as opposed to our typical elected politicians – to develop solutions to complex problems. To even contemplate a plan that results in a 30%-plus reduction in foreign oil imports over the next 10 years requires the kind of vision most of us don’t possess. Even more remarkable, I believe he has an exceptional chance – with our support and help – of achieving the goals outlined in the Pickens Plan.

A hundred thousand square miles of wind farm with untold thousands of wind turbines does not seem like a very efficient way to produce energy. Especially when a few nuclear plants can do the same thing. But as long as it is private investment then "full steam ahead". I wonder if Texans are willing to store nuclear waste since Nevadans don't seem to want to.

Nuclear Power. has no plan for the clean up of mining fields that could cotaminate the colorado river for thousands of years.The 40-year-old Atlas mill tailings pile at Moab, Utah, located 750 feet from the Colorado River, covers 130 acres and leaks on average 57,000 gallons per day of contaminated fluids into the river. The radioactive isotopes that are released in the mining and milling process. BTW this is not concidered nuclear waste.

If its such a sweet deal, how come Pickens doesn't want to finance it completely by himself and keep the govt out of the deal? I know the answer, hopefully you do too. In essence, he's after a can't lose deal.

"rogueamerican"- have you looked at the plan on the website? I think you should....you would realize that such a tremendous movement towards a secure energy future takes both private and public sectors...IE T Boone's investment, plus the support of the American people and government.

Pickens plan may provide additional supplies in the YEARS to come but we need energy independence as a national security issue NOW. Russia has seized on a window of opportunity and is exploiting that vulnerability to dismantle NATO. The other issue is that this solution only produces energy. Where is the equivalent utility of oil? You can't fly a jet with electrons (yet) and batteries in your car might get you forty miles with a good charge. Where is the optimized infrastructure that we have built around carbon energy? Do we have battery stations to fill'er up? Where are the electric trains? Where are the MAG LEV's? How long will it take to develop and optimize the infrastructure for alternative sources? Carbon energy took over a century. Pickens is a start but it is not a cold turkey solution. World events are dictating that we need stability first (energy independence whatever the source) and then time to transition our economic, cultural and national security systems.

Mary23, If the American govt tries to become partners in business with energy producers, it will become a maze of inefficiencies. If its a good deal, Pickens won't have trouble raising the money himself.

http://www.americansolutions.com/SolutionsLab/Solution.aspx?GUID=42842014-fe8e-45f3-aac7-b39671155265 Link to Pelosi-Pickens connectionwhich smells like conflict of interest for Pelosi. Also not to sure Pickens isnt lobbing for Wind and a corridor for connecting power so that he can leverage the corridor to move his WATER thruout the SouthWest that he has connived in Texas to control, by leveraging an 8 acre water district into a water cartel controlling aquifers with huge amounts of water. Interesting that his windmills and corridors coincide with his water project. WHICH HE OWNS. I wouldn't paint this tough Oil Tycoon as a philanthopist just yet!!!