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The Pickens Plan is a major energy policy proposal announced July 8, 2008 by American businessman T. Boone Pickens to reduce the United States dependency on foreign oil imports by investing approximately 1 trillion USD to build vast wind turbine farms for power generation, and then by shifting the natural gas used for power generation to fuel automobiles.

Proposal

Pickens said the plan could cut the amount the country spends annually on foreign oil from $700 billion to $400 billion. He proposed the following steps:

1. Using the United States' wind corridor, private industry will fund the installation of thousands of wind turbines in the wind belt, generating enough power to provide 20 percent or more of the country's electricity supply.
2. Again funded by the private sector, electric power transmission lines will be built, connecting these wind power generating sites with the power grid, providing energy to the population centers in the Midwest, South and Western regions of the country.
3. With the energy from wind now available to serve the large population centers in key areas of the country, the natural gas that was historically used to fuel natural gas-fired power plants can be redirected and used as a fuel for private cars and thousands of vehicles in the transportation system. This reduces the need for imported gasoline and diesel fuels.

According to Ray Bradley of the Institute for Energy Research, who has analyzed the plan, the Pickens plan relies on special government mandates and large subsidies.

Effects on the environment

The Pickens Plan significantly reduces carbon dioxide emmisions because it shifts a percentage of electricity production from combustion to carbon neutral wind power. Automobiles would still produce carbon dioxide whether combusting natural gas or gasoline, but combustion of gasoline produces much larger amounts of nitrogen oxides than combustion of natural gas. Nitrogen oxides are a major air pollutant and cause brownish atmospheric smog.

Multi-media campaign

Pickens plans to spend $58 million on his multi-media effort to promote the Pickens Plan. Pickens's multi-media campaign includes old media, such as newspaper and TV, and new media, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Pickens Plan has created its own social network on its website powered by Ning.

As part of this effort, Pickens has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, CNN, and Fox News.

Pickens' efforts are supported by his spokesperson Jay Rosser and political ad firm Joe Slade White & Co.

Grassroots organizing

Pickens plans to organize supporters by Congressional districts.

Endorsements

• Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, has expressed support of the Pickens Plan.

• The New York Herald in an editorial endorsed the Pickens plan.

• On July 7, 2008 the Independent Green Party of Virginia became America's first state political party to join, and endorse The Pickens Plan.

Criticism

Concerning government subsidies and protectionism

• According to Rob Bradley of the Institute for Energy Research, who has analyzed the plan, "The Pickens plan relies on special government mandates and subsidies to pick the pockets of American taxpayers and ratepayers," Bradley said. "Wind power is inefficient, unreliable, expensive, and a burden to the electricity grid. Natural gas vehicles are a niche product at best. As such, this plan is Robin Hood in reverse: taking from average Americans to subsidize wealthy political entrepreneurs. Finally, the Pickens Plan misdirects the public and policymakers from real solutions: less government for more abundant and affordable energy.".

• Jerry Taylor, in his article "T. Boone Hard-Wired for Subsidies," says instead of allowing the market to work, Pickens wants government to limit imports of foreign oil along with installing the wind plants so that he can become richer at the expense of consumers. He also says if wind power were a sensible economic investment, then it would not require the "lavish federal and state subsidies already in place or the additional largesse sought after by Mr. Pickens." He says if energy production would be left to the free market, then "Mr. Pickens would be out a lot of money, which is probably why Mr. Pickens wants to hard-wire the market to consume the things he's investing in and have the government lavish him with subsidies in the course of doing so. I wish Mr. Pickens well in the course of his wind energy business, but I see no reason why taxpayers, ratepayers, or consumers ought to be forced to sacrifice in order to fatten his already ample bank account."

Other

• Dan Becker, director of the Safe Campaign and former head of the Sierra Club's global warming program. "These are big question mark. . . (t)here are a lot of things out of Mr. Pickens' control." He said the plan could cut the amount the country spends annually on foreign oil from $700 billion to $400 billion."

• Ed Wallace, a syndicated journalist, points out that Pickens proposes spending 1 trillion USD on wind generators that are estimated to be fully efficient less than 10% of the time by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Wallace states that this doesn't make financial sense when traditional power plants are required to provide the rest of the power. He also points out that the estimated trillion dollar investment doesn't pay for building the power infrastructure to move the power from the "wind belt" in the plains states to the coastal portions of the country, for refitting automobile refueling stations nationwide, nor the costs of refitting existing vehicles or purchasing natural gas-powered automobiles.

• Extensive criticism of the natural gas portion of the Pickens Plan appears at the Peak Oil Crisis link in the document entitled The Intelligent Community Response to the Pickens Plan at the Intelligent Community web site.

See also

• Compressed natural gas
• Energy use in the United States
• Nolan County, Texas
• Pampa Wind Project
• T. Boone Pickens, Jr.
• Wind power
• Wind power in Texas
• Wind power in the United States

Additional resources

• Washington Post article

• The Hill article

• Financial Times article

• Politico article

• CNN article

Notes and references

1. Andy Vuong, Tycoon's plan taps wind, 2008-07-11
2. "Pickens backs renewable energy plan". San Antonio Business Journal. 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
3. Rob Bradley. Institute for Energy Research. Picken's plan leaves U.S. energy security blowing in the wind. http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2008/07/11/pickens-plan-leaves-us-energy-security-blowing-in-the-wind/
4. Adam Schreck, Pickens wants more emphasis on alternative energy
5. http://blogs.wsj.com/buzzwatch/2008/07/08/t-boone-pickens-facebook-guy-pickens-plan-taps-social-networking/?mod=googlenews_wsj
6. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/11/pickensplan-wind-energy-tech-science-cz_af_0710pickens.html
7. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/11/pickensplan-wind-energy-tech-science-cz_af_0710pickens.html
8. http://blogs.wsj.com/buzzwatch/2008/07/08/t-boone-pickens-facebook-guy-pickens-plan-taps-social-networking/?mod=googlenews_wsj
9. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-07-08-t-boone-pickens-plan-wind-energy_N.htm
10. http://nyherald.com/endorsement-pickens-plan-2/107.html
11. Independent Green Party of Virginia official site, www.votejoinrun.us
12. Rob Bradley. Institute for Energy Research. Picken's plan leaves U.S. energy security blowing in the wind. http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2008/07/11/pickens-plan-leaves-us-energy-security-blowing-in-the-wind/
13. Jerry Taylor. T. Boone Hard-Wired for Subsidies. National Post. July 24.2008. On Cato Institute website http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9558
14. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus9-2008jul09,0,7890733.column
15. http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_9845133
16. ""T-Bone for Him, Slim Pickin's for Us". Star-Telegram. 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-07-23. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Unknown parameter |Last= ignored (|last= suggested) (help)
17. http://www.theintelligentcommunity.com/files/TheIntelligentCommunityResponseToThePickensPlan.pdf

External links

• Pickens Plan
• T. Boone Hard-Wired for Subsidies Criticism of the Picken's Plan

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