Pickens in Lincoln: Time to break oil dependence

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By RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star

A standing-room-only crowd at the Lancaster Event Center heard Oklahoma oilman turned new-age energy advocate T. Boone Pickens’ plea Wednesday for a public commitment to independence from foreign oil.

Pumped up and prepped with country music, the electricity of 1,200 people flowed through the center like Pickens wants it to flow from windmills on the Plains, something like those Lincoln Electric System runs within sight of the event center.

Pickens was in Lincoln on his $58 million, nationwide campaign to use wind energy production to replace natural gas use for electric generation, so the gas can be diverted to powering motor vehicles.

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Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens addresses a crowded hall Wednesday at the Lancaster Event Center, where he was promoting his plan for energy independence. (Eric Gregory)

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Billionaire Pickens draws crowd of diverse opinions

Crowd noise

A crowd of more than 1,200 people gathered to hear oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, Wednesday. The group, eager for answers to the country’s energy woes, seemed to include representatives from all demographic categories in Nebraska.

Here’s a sampling of what they said:

"I believe in him. We have to get off of oil any way we can or the whole planet is going to be like Beijing. I'm worried about the environmental effect and dependence on foreign oil -- it will kill us." --Maxine Messing, Lincoln

"We need to use less oil, it doesn't matter who is saying it, we need to use less oil and coal." --John Mekota, Crete

"I'm surprised to see a big oil man swap horses, but I presume he's a good American and that's the reason why he's changed." --Don Crecelius, Lincoln

"Anything American is good, everything needs to be on the table ... This is being environmental the responsible way, through renewables, solar energy." --Mike Johanns, U.S. Senate candidate, Republican

"There is tremendous potential to develop energy sources in the U.S. -- oil, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, but there has been a failure of leadership in Washington ... American ingenuity can help solve energy problems.” --Scott Kleeb, U.S. Senate candidate, Democrat

-- Lisa Munger

“Let’s talk serious,” Pickens said, folksy as only a billionaire can be, after opening with the obligatory Cornhusker and Okie State jokes. Pickens is a patron of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

The root of America’s energy problem, and the intolerably high prices now, is the history of cheap oil, which encouraged dependence on foreign sources, he said.

“We didn’t have leadership that did anything about it,” he said, drawing applause.  “It’s really all of us to blame. I am, you are. Because of cheap oil. Cheap oil stopped all the alternatives.”

Now, we’re 70 percent dependent on foreign sources, which Pickens described as a few friends and some enemies.

“I’m convinced we’re paying for both sides of this war,” he said.   “We’re doing something that could be identified as stupid.”

In five to 10 years, assuming fast action on production tax credits by Congress and the executive branch, the U.S. could replace more than one-third of imported oil with energy from domestic sources, according to Pickens, saving more than $230 billion a year.

It can’t be done drilling more on either coast or in Alaska, Pickens said, but he doesn’t want to rule out any domestic energy source — biofuels, nuclear, oil, natural gas, wind, coal, hydro and others.

“I’m for anything that’s American,” he said.

Renewable energy represents only 2 percent of U.S. energy today, but there is conclusive evidence that 20 percent could come from electricity generated by windmills in the “wind corridor” between West Texas and the Canadian border, according to the Pickens Plan.

The potential is there to revive rural America economically in that corridor, Pickens said, with a developed wind-energy industry that can move electricity to the nationwide grid.

The key, he said, is to tap natural gas trapped in shale formations in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Appalachia.

If wind energy can replace gas used in producing electricity, then the gas can be used to drive motor vehicles, especially the nation’s trucks and fleets.

“I’m after the trucks,” he said. “The battery won’t move the 18-wheeler.”

Pickens said his public campaign started in the middle of the night July 1, talking to his wife.

He said he told her the American people weren’t being told the whole story about energy.

“She said, ‘Look, I want you to tell them the whole story, and I want to go to sleep.’ Next day, I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna do it.’”

Pickens said he spoke last week with the two presidential candidates, and both were receptive enough to his plan for him to feel confident taking it to Congress.

He also sought and says he picked up an endorsement from the richest guy in Nebraska.

“Warren says I’m on the right track,” Pickens said.

He’s also picked up a wide range of news media followers:  Among those attending the Lincoln event were representatives from Australian television, MTV and 60 Minutes.

Taking questions from a few among dozens of people lined up in the audience, Pickens emphasized the natural gas solution he describes as merely a “bridge” to hydrogen-powered and electrically driven motor vehicles.

“Natural gas will only work for 20 or 30 years,” Pickens said. “After that, you’re going to have to figure it out. I won’t be here.”

Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or rpiersol@journalstar.com.