Pickens plan answer to multiple problems

Ben Olsen/Staff Writer
Over the course of the fall, amidst all the campaign ads, there were other ads running showing an older gentleman talking about wind energy. You, like many other people, were probably confused being that it wasn’t McCain or Obama. In fact, it was a billionaire by the name of T. Boone Pickens, who has a plan to break the United State’s dependence on foreign oil from the Middle East, and in my opinion, it is a plan to be taken seriously.

First off, Pickens is the founder and Chairman of BP Capital Management, a successful energy organization.
One might be skeptical of an old billionaire coming up with an energy plan, but Pickens isn’t trying to cash in.
“I’m 80 years old and have more money than I will ever need,” Pickens said.

The plan calls for building new wind generation facilities that will produce 20 percent of America’s electricity and will allow the use natural gas as a transportation fuel.

Pickens says the combination of those energy sources can replace over 30 percent of foreign oil imports, and it can all be done in ten years.

A main driving factor behind Picken’s plan is that our dependence on foreign oil involves our three current most important issues: the economy, national security and the environment.
It’s shocking that we currently import 70 percent of our fuel, given that the U.S. houses potentially some of the greatest energy globally.

“The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” Pickens said.
Studies the world over have found that the Midwest states have the greatest wind energy potential in the world. A Department of Energy study found that 20 percent of America’s electricity can come from wind, and North Dakota by itself can provide a quarter of our country with energy.

The other part of the plan, calling for natural gas vehicles, will have a positive impact on the environment.
Natural gas is one of the cleanest and safest forms of energy and is the U.S.’s second largest energy resource.
Finally, wind energy is a huge investment for the rural states. In addition to creating new jobs in construction and maintenance, many people will be employed to manufacture turbines, which pays on a scale comparable to the aerospace industry according to Pickens.

All in all, this plan could be our answer to current economic, environmental, and foreign problems.  Being that the wind energy and natural gas is so predominant in our country, there would be less tension in the Middle East; Natural gas is abundant and one of the cleanest forms of energy in the world, making it a perfect fit to fuel our transportation; and the Pickens plan as a whole will provide thousands of high paying jobs. While it may take more than ten years, it seems that hope is finally on the way.

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