I believe that Mr. Pickens is correct, in that we cannot keep with the same status-quo.

I do not know what is driving up the price of oil and subsequently the gasoline that is made from it, but this just shows our vulnerability to being soley reliant on one energy source.

I am not a fan of higher energy pricing, but if in the end something good comes of it - like forcing the world to look for alternatives sources of energy and being more energy efficient with how we live our lives, then we will be better off in the end and maybe protect the generations that follow from being in the same perdicament.

Mr. Pickens is right about “not drilling our way out”, but our current infastructure is built around oil and gas. We need to keep our oil options open by drilling now and cut reliability on foreign suppliers. A large multitude of energy choices, which include wind, solar, oil, etc., should wake up the foreign suppliers to the point that they see their money supply slowly drying up,

I worked offshore in the Oil and Gas Exploration business for 25 years. Drilling for and production of hydrocarbons is not an environmental problem. It’s consumption of hydrocarbons that’s by far the biggest problem in the world today.

Why expand oil and gas drilling when it is in the entire world’s interest to stop burning hydrocarbons for energy.

It’s time to move toward alternative energy sources, not continue to cook and choke ourselves in our own pollution.

Mr. Pickens is right, we can’t drill our way out of the problem but what he should be saying is that we shouldn’t even try.

Mr. Pickens is entitled to kind words just for bringing this up so I wish him well, We cannot drill or dig our way out of this mess. We are already in trouble for increasing carbon emissions, global warming, melting polar ice, etc. It may be simplistic but it is true: we will burn every gallon of oil and every pound of coal we can get our hands on for as long as we can, adding to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and global warming in the process. The Pickens plan will slow it down. The Bush plan will speed it up. We are all going to have to hurt! before it can improve. Only quarrel I have with the Pickens plan is that it doesn’t go far enough.

I think the move by Bush is just symbolic to try to bolster the republican party in what appears to be a tough election year. It simply won’t help matters because even if we drilled and struck oil here in our courntry we don’t have enough refineries to process it.

Oil companies have plenty of land in reserve that they could drill on with ample supplies of oil, but they refuse to drill. Let’s face it, oil is manipulating the entire world.

We need new sources of energy and to take every step that will help us kick the oil habit.

ANY new resource that requires a significant expenditure will be slow to develop. If the oil companies can purchase oil cheaper than building new risky facilities or drilling in high cost areas, they’ll pick the cheaper methods and charge us more.

Why isn’t conservation preached more heavily? If every utility pushed consumers to conserve (even offering incentives) we might not need more power plants or more imported oil. I doubt we see the federal government push conservation since their pockets are lined by the oil and utility lobbiest.

the truth is out there! Bush strives to benifit his oil intrest as he comes closer to reuniting with them! In true “Ristag Fire” tradition, Bush and his Saudi and oil friends (remember his visit to the Saudis as the price started to go up?) push to turn up the heat for OFF Shore drilling and “all” widlife and government land drilling!! Thjis whole push up the price is nothing more than a ruse to force open such drilling (by false public uproar) even though (as pointed out by -1- congressman) they are currently only drilling in less than a 1/3 of there current offshore and land holdings!! Do not give in or be decieved by this money grab!! This is not rocket science!!

Public Discussion Forum for Pickens Plan : http://www.pickensenergyplan.com See you there !

I find this an intersting blog..because i had read earlier about Bush’s plan ..and my first thought was…hmm Well, he must have seen the ourpouring of public support on CNN’s blog (seriously). I think it ’s a darm shame they are not responding and doing it publicly (since we all know they read the blog,,and it’s a buzz in the capitol hallways).

To shake it up a little…Me, Joesphiene citizen, will not support a President that can not ,and or does not ,have the insight or vision, to look to the future for the enviromental betterment of our country and with the least impact enviromentally and my pocketbook (why i am all for windmills). For President Bush..there really has to be more than drilling…..this is pushing the citizen too far..and the token spoken is irrelevant.

Perhaps Mr. Pickens needs to get his petitions on CNN….

It seems as though it’s another ploy to increase his abysmal approval ratings before leaving the White House. Actually, IMHO, we can’t give him the boot fast enough.

Why aren’t the politicians backing the T Boone Pickens (TBP) plan? Because they didn’t think of it? Right now, we have a choice between TBP and nothing. I prefer something, hence the TBP plan.

It’s about time. We should quit wasting money on people who like our money but hate us. Our own government is more interested in building the infrastructure of the rest of the world than in our own backyard. Bridges should not fall down, and levies should not fail in the United States. Bring our jobs back home. Keep our money here. Invest in the U.S.A. The electrical infrastructure is weak and has not been improved to support Picken’s Plan but could be and could be a good way of getting some people to work. Once built the Wind Generators will need to be maintained and that kind of work cannot be outsourced. We need this kind of forward thinking. Why have the politicians not stepped up and supported this type of plan before?

Are there any details on the 68 million acres the oil industry supposedly already has leased but hasn’t used? It might be interesting to see why they’re so intent on drilling in new areas if we knew what they already control. Also, if refineries are running at full speed, as the oil industry claims, and there have been record profits, how does the industry explain the fact that it is not building new refineries?

But really, why should anyone believe a consumate liar like Pickins about anything on face value?

First, I do agree that it would take a good while before any oil would be pumped, and does anyone really have the capital to build more refineries anyway?

Second, I read a comment the other day that really stuck with me regarding Congress not wanting to allow the drilling. If the Republicans think drilling offshore and in Alaska is such a great idea, why didn’t they allow it while they were in charge of Congress? Don’t blame the Democrats for something you could’ve done yourselves.

Third, say the drilling is allowed. Does anyone really think the oil companies will let the oil price drop too far? As soon as prices drop too far, all they’d have to do is shut off a few oil pumps, cut supply, and the price magically goes right back up!

Right now we are in the worst spot. Oil prices are very high and won’t come down any time soon. Adding supply doesn’t really solve the long term problem. And right now there just isn’t a viable alternative ready to go. We waited too long, didn’t cut our dependency on oil any, and we haven’t really got the infrastructure in place to use alternative energy means. Whether or not you like Mr. Pickens and/or his wind ideas, at least he’s honestly wanting to try something.

The pending repeal of Bush’s father’s executive order, all this shrill banter about drilling . . . sounds like a last second hail mary attempt to the oil industry.

I believe that we need to do both. Although most likely because of partisan politics and people having “ecological concerns” we’ll probably wind up doing neither.

Oh well though, I live close enough to work that I can walk, and I have my own garden too… the people that are going to be hurt the most are those who really on the cheap prices that have been produced by increased globalization.

We really should build wind-farms, and we really should drill more…just like President Bush suggested 8 years ago. Every body sure thought/thinks he’s stupid…but apparently he saw this one coming.

Lewis
Gilmore, Ok

So you wonder why Bush said nothing about Pickens approach? Lets see –Pickens oilman, says he doesnt need the money, and wants to leave next generation in a better direction than the last. He knows oil was good to him, but not ’so good’ that it would destroy our American economy and future health with greenhouse gases.
George Bush, also tied to BIG OIL, actually BIG OIL got him elected, and Pickens knows this. But GDub doesnt squeak a word, but throw platitudes into the air that we need to kep drilling more oil, why?? duh,
more profits to the guys that got him and funded him into office. I think we will find when he leaves office and moves back to Dallas, that he is the richest president to leave office B/C of what oil did for him. I mean if DUB made 4 cents off every gallon of gas refined, I could see how and why gas has risen like it has, it guarantees a massive windfall. Anybody that does the opposite of Pickens from now on I seriously question their motives esp. GDUB and his rookies.
Pickens sees the long term BIG picture, George is on get rich quick scheme! Guys —George going to Saudi Arabi to talk about increasing flow, that was charades, the body language gave it away, and the Saudis laughed at him. We have been duped royally.
To be sure, gas will go up all the way to the day GDUB leaves office, cause he has to guarantee the money keeps flowing in before January 20th. I predict gas prices drop at least a dollar when he leaves office.

Doesn’t burning of fossil fuels lead directly to climate change?
Didn’t Bush say that “The U.S. is addicted to oil?”

The answer to our problem is to find an alternative energy source to oil which is renewable: solar, wind, etc.

*** ALARM ***
———— THIS IS A NATIONAL ENERGY EMERGENCY! ———–
We need to take action on ALL fronts, right now!
This must include SOLAR, WIND, OFF SHORE DRILLING, NUCLEAR, NATURAL GAS, CLEAN BURN COAL, TIDAL, GEOTHERMAL, HYDRO, USING IRAQ OIL to pay for the war, and any other technology or method we have to get and/or produce energy.
Don’t kid yourself folks, if we don’t take drastic action immediately, this great country of ours are going to go down like a house of cards. It will make the Great Depression look like a picnic!
WAKE UP PEOPLE, write your congressman, senators today. Make your voices heard!
Your very way of life and possibly even your life is at stake!

We need to develop wind, solar, nuclear, and cleaner coal. But at the same time we need to drill to take care of our current infrastrure needs until the others are developed. And stop the Chinese and Cubans from stealing the oil in the Gulf !

Politicians are just trying to line their pockets with energy money. God forbid if someone gives away FREE energy, and it cannot be taxed or charged for.

As Nader said, both candidates are closely tied to special interests
As the Holliwood Madam compared, Politicians are the real Prostitutes.

Who owns their soul ?
Devil in disguise, The International Tapeworm ?

Mr. Pickens plan definately has merit. It should be American innovation and entreprenuership that gets us out of this mess. The government can help by mandating a few things to make it easier for these innovators to get their ideas/products out there. Goodf old “king” George, could have started helping out by the stroke of a pen. He could have mandated that all federal vehicles within size/weight regs would have to be hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles. Also could have mandatd low to zero emission vehicles into the federal fleet. This would have boosted output from the auto industry bringing down the cost of hybrids for the regular consumer.
He could have mandated that under federal code, all new construction would have to be made with all renewable materials and had to be energy self sufficient (utilizing solar,wind, etc.) which in turn would bring down the costs of those products and make them affordable to regular people so they too could retrofit their homes to save energy.

The states are responsible as well. They could mandate all state owned fleet vehicles be hybrids and builing codes could be the same as federal. The Taxi and Limosuine commissions in all states could mandate that in order to get your cab license you have to drive a hybrid vehicle and or diesel.

These things would have already helped get us off our “addiction to oil” and King George was so fond of saying. Three years later and still nothing has been done. Oil is at record highs, unemployment is climbing, industry is collapsing and being sold to foreign corporations (Budweiser anyone?). In Ten years at this rate we will become what Mexico now is… A labor force for the worlds corporate giants.

God Bless America?? I don’t think so…

Mr. Pickens is right about using natural gas for fueling our cars and trucks as it would be as easy as the change over we already do for propane. This change-over could be done with the help of the government with cash incentives. The Government could kick the project off by requiring all government, and state vehicles, buses, and taxies be converted imediatly. It is naive to believe that we can just shut off the pumps and change to wind,solar and other energy sources over-night. It can be done but the techknowledge is still in the future. We still need to drill an use nuclear energy to get us to that future point.

It’s political posturing, of course, but we CAN drill our way out of the immediate crises. Once the traders and speculators think that NEW supply will be available, they will seek to lock in their profits and SELL. Selling will bring the price per barrell back down to a more reasonable level. Scientists say we have close to 100 years of domestic oil. The government could levy high Royalty and Rent fees, and use the proceeds to advance alternative energy. It’s a WIN WIN for everyone except those who want to lower the US standard of living.

It’s sort of amusing that one candidate seems to enjoy comparing his rival to President Carter, with pejorative intent, when you consider that the initiatives Carter established could have outright prevented the development of our current dejected situation. If Reagan hadn’t killed the development of alternative energy options as soon as he took office, we’d have had some by now.

On the topic of drilling the OCS, it’s sort of silly to be having this debate now, given that all the available drilling equipment’s already booked for the next five years. Since it’s going to be at least five years before anybody’s going to be doing any actual drilling, that debate is contemporary history’s best example of “a sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

I still think that, if we want to subsidize an investment that will pay us back, we ought to get our blue-collar work force onto the job of retro-fitting our buildings with more conservative energy-use technologies, e.g., geo-exchange heat pumps. When you’re hungry, go for the low-hanging fruit first.

I’ve read some comments, pro and con, on the idea of using CNG as a transportation fuel, and have a few of my own: the idea that adoption of CNG would be difficult is just wrong; CNG retrofits for gasoline vehicles have been commercially available since the 1980s.

The real trouble with CNG is that the engines you burn it in don’t get any more efficient than they are on gas, and CNG-burners emit somewhat more than half as much CO2 per mile as gasoline-burners, so you don’t win enough on emissions for CNG to be more than a stopgap, a baby step toward a viable energy future. Any solution that rests on continued use of the internal combustion engine as we currently use it is going to fail, simply because most of the energy released from the fuel source is going to end up as waste heat.

Bottom line: We need to waste less.

T. Boone is the man when it comes to energy. If we could drill our way out of this, he’d provide the drilling rigs. Its not speculators. Its not the evil the oil companies. Its geology. His plan has many great ideas that need to be seriously looked at by our policy makers. I’m not saying its perfect, but its better than any plan that has come out of Washington in the last 25 years.

Although I think it’s great that T. Boone and some others are seeing the light after so many years of denial, we need to keep an eye on the people and groups who are now vying to become the next energy barons. They are still in support of large centalized energy generation infrastructure and in general against individually owned local generation- mainly because one scheme makes them rich and the other does not.

With that said, I strongly agree that drilling at this time is unwise, but for a different reason than what many have brought up. I believe eventually we will be forced to tap into those resources- but we shouldn’t do it now, but save it for when oil resources are truly scarce ~30 years out and it becomes hard to obtain even on the open world market. Blowing it all now when things are only starting to get bad and before we have any other backups makes us even more vulnerable. And, remember, you don’t just need oil for energy- it’s for all the other stuff made of plastic and other organics!

It’s pretty likely that the hardships we see 30 years out will make these seem minor, and for now, the pain is shocking people out of the doldrums and forcing them to consider lifestyle changes that, while painful, will help move us quicker to a sustainable future. I’m not blind to the fact that some people are truly hurting, but there may be other solutions to help them than to blow our last nest egg of petroleum resources at this time.

Interesting comments by Mr. Pickens - I’m sick and tired of him portraying himself as a great humanitarian - these mutual funds as derived in a great part by Mr. Pickens are a large part of the current speculation in the oil market. Now that he cn see the end of the “golden goose” market - he is trying the old bait nd switch technique. Until congress acts and make these oil speculation put up the same type percentages as stock buyer this stuff will go on - it is expanding into the grain market now - ethanol does not have to be made from corn but cn be derivired from other sources.

We need to utilize all energy options, incluging wind, solar, hydrogen and yes, domestic oil production. I do not understand opinions that frame this as an either/or discussion. Let’s drill our own oil now and prepare for a future that relys on alternative fuels.

Drilling for more oil is like offering anyone with an addiction “just a little more”. You don’t cure an addiction by enabling it. You cure it by restricting consumption. As a recovering alcoholic, George W knows that.

If the admission that we’re “addicted to oil” was sincere, it’s time for the next step. If not, it’s time for another look in the mirror.

We have got over 30 years of nuclear garbage piling up. Apparently the only thing the Nevada Democrat and Republican Senators can agree on is ‘not in my backyard!’

It’s essential the US make energy independence a priority; and a stated goal to be achieved within ten years.

The many renewable options available to us can make this goal a reality.

It is also important for two very specific reasons; 1) our cash flow into the Middle East provides our enemies with the funds necessary to finance terrorist activities, and 2) with China and India putting so many vehicles on the road, ultimately, we will end up bidding for the available supply. At what point are we told there is not enough supply to meet our demand, as China and India have agreed to subsidize their purchases?

We have the technology to make significant reductions in foreign oil consumption. A goal of energy independence in ten years would be an outstanding rallying point for all of our citizens.

Our energy crisis is one that we can’t merely drill our way out of. We must demand alternative enegry solutions, since more drilling simply deepens our dependency to oil. We are oil addicts, desperately needing rehab! We must change our philosophy and embrace new techonolgies wholeheartedly.

Thank you Mr. Dykstra for punctuating the deafening silence from the legislative and executive policy and decision makers of America.

The fact is, the crisis America faces today is a direct result of the utter absolute unmitigated continuing FAILURE of those same policy and decision makers who are unable or unwilling set policy or make decisions.

President Bush and his Cabinet, the United States Senate and the Congress are a contempt-able collection of weak cowardly spiritless self aggrandizing special interest lap dogs. These elected Gentle men and women should be honored to serve the American citizenry, instead we find them to be seditious self serving profiteers. To afraid to lead to proud to follow. In either case completely worthless. Please join me in a one finger salute.

Let’s all be reminded that these individuals serve at our pleasure. Not GE, Not AIG, Not Goldman Sachs…US, as in you and me fellow Americans.

Blogging is all well and fine. We need to be cramming the aforementioned public servants inboxes with our disdain and demand that they DO SOMETHING NOW! Because either way – stake a firm controversial stand or cower and continue to do nothing – come next election cycle they are outta here.

And you there! CNN, and the whole hoard of “mainstream media” who have appointed yourselves our new political bosses. Make yourselves useful. Get on task. I don’t care about the new twins, who marries who isn’t a Presidential issue, a magazine cover isn’t news. This Nation is facing a critical issue and your telling us about Brittney’ hair? You are fired!!

Those blustering gas bags in D.C aren’t going to listen unless “The Media” turns up the volume. They need to see a poll. Their “approval ratings” have to be adversely affected before they can make a decision. They have to fear the loss of something before they will ever venture toward the gain of something.

Our future depends on this folks. We should be marching in the streets instead of driving to work. The Sovereign Fund of United Arab Emirates aren’t going to take up our cause. In fact they’re counting on the fact that we won’t either.

Mr. Dykstra. I suggest tomorrow’s blog be an action plan. We’re going to have to push some buttons and ruffle a lot of feathers to advance this debate. Who’s up for it?

As Mr. Pickens said, can’t drill our way out of this one. The frustrating thing about this is - it is not a “surprise.” The signs to get away from oil was clearly sent to America since the early 70’s.

Everyone knew eventually the party would come to an end; however, I suppose no one wanted to pick up the tab. I remember reading around the year 2000 or 01, that the chairman of GM was quoted as saying GM were not interested in hybrid auto development because their customer base did not warrant the support for it either presently or in the future. Truly long term visionary planning at work here!

Unfortunately, the offshore drilling’s effect upon the quantity of production will be years from now and will not have the material dollar impact everyone may be hoping for.

Regardless, I applaud Mr. Picken taking the lead. Though it may not be profitable short term - someone with influence in the America business community must redirect herd.

Mr. Pickens is in his rgith state of mind. He see’s these oil companies taking a tole on the american people and now has had his eyes opened and thank god someone wealthy enough to make a difference has stepped up to the plate. The politicians just talk and don’t get anything done. By drilling off shore we’re just reducing the value of our cost lines and not to mention the wildlife. The world is in dyre need to heal itself and we need to help it in EVERY way possible. If Mr.Pickens can reduces the countries reliance on imported oil by 20% then that’s the biggest first step I’ve ever seen and a great one at that. More power to him and he has my 100% support. GO FORWARD Mr. Pickens, GO!

We need an energy plan with multiple solutions. We need to increase production for the next decade or two. But there has to be aggressive work on figuring out our dependence on foreign oil and oil in general. The solution will not happen over night. If we kill our economy now , it is going to take a century to fix. We cant afford not to drill.

I say drill for more oil but in the mean time start on alternative fuels too. Solar ,wind anything that we can think of so we don’t have to depend on the Middle East and then we will be able to tell them keep their oil.

From what I have read in the past, the lifting of the ban on coastal drilling simply means the oil giants no longer have to meet the stringent environmental rules laid down. Secondly, after drilling commences, there will be a long time, 5 to 10 years, of waiting from the start of drilling to the refined product being delivered to our gas pumps. Thirdly, the action seems to prolong the addiction problem. So instead of curing the addiction, our politicians become the “drug pushers” of the 21st century, and we become the “junkings.” It is not a pleasant thought.

I understand it costs about $25,000 per day to drill a well on dry ground and it may or may not be producive. Drilling at sea would be a lot more costly. I just have to wonder how much research could be accomplished with that kind of money invested in non-fossil energy research to replace oil.

Our executive office is in a sad state and yes, I voted for the man… twice. (gulp) I have no moral problem with drilling except for the fact that to do so will appear to most Americans as a solution to the problem and in reality it will only postpone *real* solutions for years.

‘W’ has had opportunity after opportunity to change the world for the better and look at what he has done… or rather what he hasn’t done. If Bush would get behind hybrid/electric cars the way he did ethanol (which was a joke from the beginning) the impact on oil consumption here would be enormous.

Aptera (at aptera.com) is in the process of going into production on a 300mpg car. Why didn’t the president get behind that? There are a whole host of other new car companies that are close to producing viable electric cars. Where is the president? Instead he is wanting to open oil production… why? There is no long term solution there. Not to mention the 5-8 years it will take to get ‘online.’ It is sad really.

I wish Mr. Pickens Godspeed and may the wind be at his back. I wish he would speak more to the issue of improved efficiencies and hybrid/electric technologies instead of just replacing oil with natural gas. If there is an achilles heel to his plan I think that is it.

Why waste time on a limited resource that we know will be gone in a century? The only people it will benefit are the oil companies and their good old boy network. The oil age is over and the sooner people accept that the better. Let’s move onto something that will benefit our descendants another 232 years from now. More oil cheaper from offshore drilling isn’t only a pipe-dream it is a nightmare my great-great-great grandchildren will have to live through.

Whats funny and sort of crazy is that we have sooo many opinions and very few have an educated opinion. As soon as someone has an environmentally friendly solution, we’re all over it. Don’t kid yourself, Mr Pickens is a business man just like Mr Bush. Rather sit here and argue about who has the right solutions why dont we start studying all options thoroughly. I am an Environmental Scientist and graduated from Florida International University in 2002. Its very simple people.First, climate change. The climate has thousands of variables, thats why we can’t predict it. Did you ever stop to think how concrete/brick structures capture heat and then release it. Did you ever stop to think about how many more bodies on this earth that produce heat. The same could be said about cloud cover, planetary alignment and speed,deforestation,solar irradiation, cosmic radiation, man made microwaves and communications devices, air densities and currents, ice melting, the ammount of land mass exposed, ocean levels,ocean salinety and turbidity, ocean mineral/chemical make up, ocean currents slowing or speeding up, humidity, CO2, CO, MH4, O2, N2,NO2,03,SO2 and every other imaginable variable out there. The equation is too big to try and solve let alone get close to predict and say, “We found the sole purpose for global warming.” Man made Global warming is still a theroy. What we do know is that global climate has recently shown a growing heating trend. What we do know from history is that the climate does have cycles that gradually make it hotter or colder overall. So why all the fuss about environmentally friendly energy? Because we want to preserver our current environment as much as possible. Anyone smart enough, like Mr. Pickens and Mr. Gore, want to capitalize on a business opportunity. Lets not kid ourselves here. So is Wind/Solar really worth it? The answer is yes and no. Yes, the technology is great, but I would not count on wind and solar alone as they are not a consistant source of energy.

Rather than force down our throats what we need…Just let competition of the most viable and efficient resoure take over. People want it. Mr Pickens is making a bold move and one that should be applauded, but not one that should be crowned champion. My message is this. Get educated. Dont let the media tell you whats good or not. Go out there and read whats really going on. As an environmentalist, its scary to see how much of the “science” is really theory and how the media uses scare tactics to sucker people. The earth has been through billions of years of cycles and has endured more than the speck we have been here, let alone the last 100 years. Just go out there and break down the science and your eyes will be opened.

…don’t know if this is an “urban legend” or not…google “Gull Island, Alaska” and read about our “200 year oil independence”…is it real?

We have the same from Mr. Bush, drill, drill and more drill. When will someone from Congress grab ahold of the Pickens Plan and move it forward? Are our elected members so ingrained with the current system and lining their own pockets that they can not see the future? How many more billions of dollars need to go to our enemies before we rise up and create our own destiny?

Agree with the majority of comments that Pickens is correct. I also do not think offshore drilling is required - especially in light of all the free Iraqi oil that comes with mission accomplished - right?

more importantly what will Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid do.. my guess is they will quickly give OIL and Bush everything they want.. while crying to the American people that they couldnt stop it..

I do think that it is a necessary evil that drilling occur on the American coastline. While Pickens may be right in his faith in wind power, it will by his own admission take years to develop an efficient system that will store and transport this energy. In the meantime increased drilling is Americas only option as it tries to keep itself out of a full blown recession. The American people NEED lower energy costs and the only way to deliver that is to develop more from within.
Drilling offshore is a stop gap measure required to make energy prices affordable. Bush in his infinite foolishness has come to this realization (years too late). Neither wind nor solar energy at this time can provide us with all of our needs and nuclear does need to factor into this equation at some point in the next 5-10 yrs. The main problem here is consumption. Every day we hear about China and India developing a middle class with higher consumption rates and they don’t even come close to matching the West!
And for all of the complaining about gas prices you still see people buying up huge SUV’s and trucks! What are these people thinking? If people would insulate their homes properly it would be the equivalent of taking somewhere near %10 of cars off of the road! Think about that for a minute!!
As a general population we have within our reach the ability to affect massive change on a global scale by enacting minor changes on the local scale. If only people would stop to think and make more informed decisions.
I for one am happy to hear that Bush will allow offshore drilling (and I am a full blown tree hugger). The end result of this will be the stabilizing of the American economy which will lead to lower energy prices and a return to sanity!

Like people are really going to give up their gas powered vehicles!! These gas-fueled transporters are worshipped and many go into great debt to obtain one. Not many people will simply scrap their dodge and go further in dept for a battery operated beast that’s needs more charging than the Energizer Bunny does. Pickens intentions may be good, but his vision isn’t much different than that of Al Gore. It may be more simple for the government to say, “Americans will no longer be able to purchase gas operated vehicles after the year 2010 — then see how “fast” technology improves.

With Big Oil buying the Presidency for the past 16 years and even overtly placing oil men in both the President and Vice President positions, one would think EVERYONE would understand this is just another scheme to rob everyday Americans. Alternative fuels are a definite threat to the oil companies and they always respond aggressively to their perceived threats. Anyone remember the first fight they had with Ethanol? Now that ethanol was becoming closer to becoming “self-sufficient” (i.e. getting off gov’t subsidies), they really needed to stick it to the farmer since the farmer makes the grain used to produce alcohol. As for offshore drilling, I strongly believe we must open off-shore drilling ONLY where another country has access to do it first. Otherwise, we should NEVER sell out our future. Let’s use up Saudi oil instead of our own!!!!

President Bush is playing politics with America’s livelihood. Even with opening up all protected areas to immediate drilling, we will not see relief for years, if at all. Most Americans are worried about how to pay for double-the-price heating bills THIS winter, not 10-20 years from now. Zeroing out the Weatherization Assistance Program and LIHEAP was low-income America’s best hope for relief in the short term. Low income Americans are the canary in the economic coalmine. President Bush and Dr. Phil Graham are clueless as to the difference between inflation and gasflation. Efficiency and conservation are our best options for the short term. Aptera is showing the way for vehicle efficiency. GM should bring back the EV1. EnergySmiths have shown they can make any and every home in America a net-zero energy home. So where’s the leadership we need now? Certainly not in Washington or Detroit.

Wind should be part of the equation, but drilling in ANWAR and off the coast are more critical to resolving our dependency on foreign energy. I am confident that technology will eventually solve the energy equation; however, we must have a strong economy to bridge the period from now to then. Wind and solar require a viable electric power storage system that has yet to be developed. At this writing, it must be backed up by reliable sources like nuclear and fossil fuels that will be on-line when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.

In my view, blanketing Texas and the mid-west with windmills will make strip mining look like the Garden of Eden.

President Bush and his administration are slaves to greed, oil barons, and war profiteers. Neither he nor his supporters have a problem lying to their countrymen (and the world) so long as they can continue creating obscene profits for their themselves and their friends. Destroying the planet is not a problem for these immoral people. Hopefully it will become a priority for the rest of us.

Pickens made enough money on oil and has seen the writing on the wall. Of course now he wants to jump on board with alternate energy so that he can make (rob) even more money from Americans

Lots of people have sent in comments asking for more hybid electric vehicles (which I agree are needed), however ,all of the ones currently in production require gasoline for their operation. At this point none are plug in electrics. Estimates are that if all personal transport vehicles were hybrids we would cut our gasoline usage by one-half. The bottom line is we still require oil for our transport needs. Pickens tries to alleviate this near term dependence with natural gas.

The letters calling for more wind ,solar, etc are fine for electric power generation but for personal transport they would only apply in the form of electric plug ins. For transport usage, the real trade offs apply in terms of how much energy you can take with you before needing another “fill up” and how far that fill up will take you. Gasoline is the current king because its energy density per kilogram of weight is 50 times greater than commercial lithum hydride batteries. This advantage gets reduced by a factor of roughly 5X because the conversion efficiency of electric motors is that much better than internal combusiton engines. Thus, we still are looking at a factor of 10X advantage for gasoline taking conversion efficiency into account. This is why current all electric plug ins don’t go very far on a single charge cycle. All of them are limited to a range of less than 35 miles except for the (very) expensive Tesla car. It’s (nearly ) 1000 pound lithium-ion battery pack has a 53 kW-hr storage capacity. This is the same amount of energy storage that is contained in approximately 9 pounds of gasoline! Thus, if we truly are going to rid ourselves of the need for fossil fuels for personal transport we need better battery (or supercapacitor) storage capabilities with faster recharge cycle times. Bottom line of all my rhetoric is that I agree with the call by Sen. McCain for a large cash prize for the developer of a better battery. I believe that this is a longer term solution whereas Pickens has a good one for the near term.

Heres the deal, we need to open all these lands/waters to drilling now and use the proceeds from leases/royalties to implement real change such as the TBP plan for energy production and big incentives for plug-in hybrid vehicles. I don’t understand why so many people are happy with destroying our current economy in the name of CO2 reduction. Why not make the best use of our current infrastructure and the resources we have to make a smooth transition to meet our energy and environmental needs? We are already starting to see big job losses in the airlines and auto industries and as these high oil prices continue to trickle through the economy we will see more belt tightening and more job losses. These are peopels lives that are being ruined! There is absolutely no reason why we can’t open up the drilling AND implement alternatives at the same time. Imagine how much better off we could be in 5 or 10 years if we make use of our current infrastructure and resources to fund and smoothly transition to the new alternatives! And we don’t have to make everyone be out of work and going broke in the mean time. Email your Senators and Congressman and tell them to open up all the drilling AND use that to fund the alternatives.

Boone has some very advanced ideas, that is, advanced for the US but not necessarily advanced for the rest of the world.

One addition to Boone’s remarks would be how to make the transition from gasoline to natural gas. I propose dual-fuel vehicles, capable of burning either gasoline or natural gas. Gasoline stations would be required to offer CNG and car manufacturers would be required to offer dual-fuel vehicles.

I’m not surprised there’s been no peep from DC about anything that would help all but maybe not Big Oil; remember, these are the folks that refused to ratify Kyoto. Insofar as the Pickens Proposal, it doesn’t go far enough. For starters, stop subsidizing corn to ethanol; use switchgrass instead. Where there’s wind, plant Wind Farms; where there’s methane producers (land fills, cattle ranches, etc) promote methane electricity production; invest heavily in thin-film solar to radically drop the price, making retrofit of houses, apartments, et al, affordable; promote Green Roofs: KC & Chicago are leading the way.

We can’t drill our way out of a dry hole. Burning ever more fossil fuels is not the answer. If we are going to be spending money and time on developing new energy sources; it shouldn’t be to deplete the last drop of finite resources but to develop renewable ones. It also won’t matter how much fuel we have if we make our planet unable to support life. We are on the tipping point of a global catastrophe. Droughts, Floods, Cyclones and Fire. Do we really need any more horeseman to recognize the apocalypse?

I am tired of hearing the left liberal mantra of we can’t drill our way out of this. Why can’t we. All I hear from the left, who by the way have created this entire mess by aligning themselves with the radical enviro nuts for vote padding, is what we can’t do. Everyone should have seen this mess coming. It is called supply and demand. The only way to handle this is by increasing the supply. Bush and his cronies have not a thing to do with this and never did. Anyone with an IQ high enough that they can count can figure that out. I haven’t seen or heard of anything bad in the past four centuries that Bush didn’t have a hand in. We are sending more than 700 billion dollars a year to countries that hate us to buy their oil. We have available to us in our own country more oil than they have. The liberals and the left need to stop selling their votes to the enviro radicals and start to vote for what is good for this country. Bankrupting it isn’t good for us. I am also on the very large list of the majority of the people in this country that doesn’t buy all of this global warming, climate crisis etc garbage. When I was a junior in hs we were being told we were going to freeze to death. Again, anyone with an IQ high enough to add it up can do simple research and see for themselves the natural ups and downs.
You haven’t seen high prices or uncomfortable living yet. Put the up and coming socialist Obama in and then you will experience expensive and uncomfortable living. He has said no we can’t to all energy suggestions at one time or another. We need to drill, and this bunk that it will take at least 10 years for any new oil to get online is once again the liberal left spouting their we can’t mantras. I want to see this country drilling and not exporting energy, I want nuke plants being built, right in my back yard is fine, I want refineries, I want solar, wind and any other energy source tapped to it’s fullest. You libs out there, it seems your vision for us is to have us in horse and buggys and maybe for the long trips a hybrid, hopefully imported just like most of our energy? Is that what you want? You people are the prominate danger to this country. Your policys, hopes and dreams are putting us in danger. It is you, not Bush. It is time we became self sufficient. We have the ways and means.

Although drilling for more oil may increase oil reserves in the future it will not stop the decrease in world oil production and the rise in demand. At best it can decrease the severity of the shock in future years as we are forced to develop other energy options for both transportation and electricity. The future will probably not be a single panicea, but rather a quilt of energy strategies. The main components must be a more conservative approuch to energy utilization, development of more renewable energy resources, more efficient (and environmentally sound) use of our decreasing fossil fuel resources, and probably a new generation of nuclear reactors (perhaps including breeder reactors) to carry over the transition.

Professor Emeritus

I’d like to understand why we can’t drill for oil AND invest in genuine renewable energy. There is no sense in killing todays economic engine based on oil just to convert to a non-oil based economy. Start by offering cost effective tax incentives to build new infrastructure around non-oil energy and pass on retrofits where they simply don’t make sense. High rise buildings need see through solar panes for windows and a tax break to install them. Companies need similar tax breaks for wind power. Residential wind power needs a federal go ahead to skip over the NIMBY home owners associations and local ordnances and a TAX break to install such features.

No we can’t drill our way out, or legislate our way out, or stand still. Because our leaders have abdicated their responsibility on energy for decades, we need to invest in alternatives AND drill AND conserve AND expand nuclear power.

We now have to use ALL approaches. To say we can’t drill our way out implies it is the only choice, and to do only that obviously won’t work. We can, however, say with certainty that IF we continue to stubbornly refuse to prudently use domestic oil sources, prices will continue to drive sky high as the world-wide demand continues to grow.

By prudently expanding domestic sources, conservation and nuclear power we can wisely use these resources while spending more on alternative energy. Although developing alternative energy is the long-term solution, it is FAR longer to develop than domestic drilling which gives us the bridge to get there.

This energy problem is so easy: Do it all!

1) Conservation (now)
2) Regulate the speculaters (now)
3) Drill more (6 months - 5 yrs)
4) Put up windmills & solar panels wherever practical (6 months - 5 yrs)
5) Build new nuclear power plants (10yrs)
6) Bio-fuels/hydrogen/energy break thrus (10-20 yrs)

Ta-daa! Problem solved.
Don’t thank me, just send a check.

Dear Sir;

The Boone Plan, for lack of a better title, has the virtues of simplicity and and practicality, in that no new technology is needed. I do think ihe may underestimate the difficulties and likely delays in establishing the requisite distribution grids. For example, virtually everyone would like abundant, reliable, and inexpensive electric power, but few wish to be neighbors of electric failities.

Mr. Pickens omitted reference to , and perhaps was not awaare of, the opposition in the Northeast to windpower. The proposed Cape Wind project off Cape Cod has been stalled for years, the suggested wind farm off Jones Beach, Long Island, has been derided, and the folk along the west side of the Hudson River don’t want them as their neighbors.

I suggest that those willing to accept the risks, inconvenience, and modest unsightliness be the first beneficiaries.

Concenring offshore drilling, which I support, I close by posing a
an interesting scenario: Let the states of Texas and Louisiana halt further offshore drilling in their waters, and only permit a resumption when states on the East and West Coasts OK offshore drilling in their waters.

Sincerely,
Alexander M. Williamson

T.Boone Pickens is a very smart man. He has made zillions of dollars off oil and can see the next big thing…..Solar……wind….!
So far the oil companies have prevented big advancements in renewable powers. They keep the cost so high that no one can afford large solar or wind farms.Mr Pickens has the funds and will be richer (if possible) man in the near future.
Its not just the oil companies or Mr Bush that has slowed solar/wind power…..its congress and the states/local goverments too. They will make you get permits, this that and everthing else before they will allow such things being built.

Thank You Mr Pickens………..your starting something great, lets hope others will follow your lead !

Why is CNN giving T. Boone Pickens so much attention?

For starters, this is only another solution that treats the problems and not the cause. The direct problem is the car and urban spread. This can only be addressed by sane zoning laws (think current mortgage crisis) and logical mass transit.

That aside, Boone’s substitution of natural gas to power cars instead of oil, also makes no sense. Power these cars directly with electricity that could come from other sources including nuclear. There would be no need for a parallel natural gas distribution system.

The best use of wind is to not, I repeat NOT, put it on the electrical grid because turbines need to be kept spinning at the ready when the wind quits blowing.

Wind should be generated locally and consumed locally. This includes the on site generation of hydrogen. This hydrogen should be treated as a commodity, like propane.

Drilling might help in the short term but will not get us out of this mess in the long term. We need to wean our selves off oil. We need to develop technologies to accomplish this and then sell those technologies to the rest of the world. We need to pull together as a nation like we did during WW2 or during the space race. We need to develop wind, solar, wave, tidal, geothermal, nuclear, fusion and hydrogen. We need to investigate space based solar, better batteries and super capacitors. There is so much potential that our Yankee ingenuity could develop. We need to regain our world leadership.

Mr Pickens is correct. The current energy challenges facing our nation and our world are not something that we can drill our way out of. However, drilling is one part of the solution to this crisis. In my opinion, the goal of the United States should be to become energy independent by 2020. This entire problem is a national security issue. Becoming energy independent will take BILLIONS of dollars away from those who wish to bring harm to the USA (Arab Oil Sheiks, Iran, Venezuela). How do we become independent? In my opinion, we must invest in Wind energy, Solar energy, Clean Coal, Natural Gas, Hybrid Vehicles, Energy Conservation and yes, drilling in areas which have KNOWN stockpiles of Oil and Natural Gas. Additionally, we must invest in Shale Oil Conversion and Tar Sands as well. In other words, we must become energy independent BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE. No one is talking about this issue. The lame duck President has no policy for this challenge, Congressional leaders are even worse. The Presidential Candidates have been deathly silent on this issue. Make no mistake, failure to act could derail our economy for 50-60 years. We must act. The United States is a great nation, filled with innovators. We are a nation who has been challenged in the past and we have meet the challenges we have faced with courage. WE CAN DO IT AGAIN. We must not accept inaction on this critical issue. I salute Mr Pickens in his efforts to meet the challenges which face our nation and I admire his courage and tenacity.

For once something that seems like an energy policy. Mr. Pickens plan is well thought out and addresses several cause and effects with a goal of reducing our dependance on diminishing supplies of oil. I hope our politicians take note, because without a truly effective domestic energy policy our problems will only grow as the worlds demand for oil increases and it’s supply declines. The countries that survive and flourish will be the ones with energy policies that not only work for the now but in the future.

A functional domestic energy policy also requires our leaders to stand up and take charge. We elect our leaders to solve problems and take charge to find a solution, not to deny the problem or point the finger to the other sides short comings. Again Mr. Pickens has put his money in his strategy. It’s a shame our leaders haven’t done more to do the same.

Finally, Mr. Pickens plan is interesting in that it creates ‘more’. While part of the solution may well be bio-fuels, we can not create them at the expense of our feedstocks and food stuffs. His plan is creative in that it generates energy from a new source (wind) not already tapped with a benefit of releasing an existing source (natural gas) from one use thereby allowing it to be used elsewhere. Since natrual gas already has an efficient distribution system, using it elsewhere should be much easier than creating new distribution channels for new alternate fuels.

Thank Mr. Pickens for taking a stand and moving forward with it.

Oil is a dead horse. Let’s quit kicking it already and start in earnest the painful but necessary transition to something sustainable. More drilling only delays the inevitable.

We have just had 8 years of a republican controlled congress that passed anything George wanted, so how come oil leases are up 300% and oil stock holders have made nothing since our “oil president” took office. If stock holders are not making record earning, follow the money!!

Mr. Pickens your on track. We can sit and complain or work our way out of this mess. Our parents gave us this GREAT Country now we have got to pass it on to our kids.
I’m 61 looking for a reason to retire, electrician for 40 years, industrial construction, and industrial maintenance. If you have a place to park my motorhome, ” Have tools will Travel” . Heck the peace Corp travels all over the world to help out, maybe us BABY Boomers can do the same thing here in this great country, God knows we need help.

Picken’s is right; International demand for oil drives the CBT futures price for oil. Futures prices will continue to climb as India & China drive demand. New supplies of domestic oil will be priced at the futures peg….demand outstrips all existing and potential supplies.
Drilling is no solution.

Unfortunately, solar, wind, battery and electric can not lubricate machinery or mitigate “metal to metal” friction. Nor can these alternatives replace plastics, nylon, rayon and all the other wonders of petroleum.

What America can do is compete effectively to buy….we should be “re-selling” at a higher futures price… to those Countries with whom we have trade deficits.

Energy policy from this government? Joke. Only it it lines somebody’s pockets. We have had 40 years to improve, and trashed the opportunity. Other countries are light years ahead of us. Corn ethanol, please……………….even the stupid can see through this one but not our politicians. Or, they must have some family on the other side of the great transfer of wealth?

Our Political Leaders have failed us and now it is up to our Business Leaders - those still bold enough to take on the challenge.

The Self Serving Politico machine has lost faith in our ability to innovate.

We still have the opportunity to lead the world in next generation energy technologies.

Fire up the Nukes - Plug in our cars - Grow our own Fuel

And, Kiss the Middle East good bye !!

The disinformation on offshore drilling, is, it won’t help us out a bit. If you think the horrible balance of trade issue will not have terrible consequences to your grandchildren, you are living in unreality. At least the money would go to our ruthless fat cats, not Chinese Warlords with a winning strategy at Wallmart. By the time this oil in Anwar comes online, Ghawar in Saudi Arabia will be failing. It will dribble a tiny spittle to keep the wolves at the door barely away till we transition to nuclear, clean nuclear, (thorium), not this cruddy dirty poison uranium. Hyman G. Rickover foisted this crap on the American public, to get submarines to threaten the Soviets. Thorium reactors could actually burn up these poisoness actinides.

Dubya is just trying to use this crisis, as a reason to give one last gift to his rich oilmen “buddies” from texas before he is out of office.

I’m tired of people thinking that we have to make just one person right. Lets hedge our bets and do both!

US oil production, whether or not we use it, is still a very good thing for our economy. the us oil industry employs a ton of people in high paying, semi-skilled and skilled labor and has for the past century. and if and when we do wean ourselves off of oil for transportation and energy use it can be used for everything else, from plastic to medicine.

lets not cut off oil supply with the hopes of something better coming along. once something better comes along it will proliferate itself. look at the shift from horse-drawn cart to train to car to aircraft. not a single one of these innovations was held back permanently by the existing powers of the time. The rail industry was one of the biggest superpowers this country has ever seen and the couldn’t stop Henry Ford from putting a car in every American’s driveway! i hope people aren’t deluded enough to believe that any one of the carmakers, foreign or domestic, are stupid enough to sit on a design that would change the world as we know it. especially with Ford and GM tanking right now.

so yeah, build your wind farms. i’m all for them. I think they’re kind of pretty and would love to have one in my backyard. Stick solar panels on everything under the sun, i think they look cool and techy. But please please please drill here and drill now. we can’t afford to send the middle east any more money.

On a practical level-
I am anxiously awaiting more info on Mr Picken’s plan for nat gas as a vehicle fuel. My brother is partially responsible for maintaining a commercial cng fleet, and he is not impressed. Neither are the other employees at the utility where he works. They are offered a deal on cng vehicles for personal use, but few of them take advantage of the program. Furthermore, he feels that the ave person can not be trusted to deal with refueling a system at 4000 psi.
As a firefighter I have safety concerns about the cng filling stations, and the vehicles with cng tanks.
Few people have vehicles that would be easily converted, and fewer still have the spare money for such a conversion.
Both of us doubt gas stations will be interested in adding cng to their product line because of the small demand. Will Mr P suggest some sort of nat gas to liquid fuel?
On the big picture-
For years I have wanted to make my own electricity with wind and solar in order to stop making: our enemies rich, our air hazardous, and our Presidents trigger happy. I also like the idea of being self reliant. But the end result of all my research is a new respect for the amount of energy in a gallon of gas, and all the things that can be made out of oil. I have also come to the sad realization that I do not have anywhere near the amount of money necessary to even begin to produce the amount of energy that I need. Given my loses in the stock market I will never will have the money for personal alternative energy. I think that we need to continue drilling for oil in addition to working on alternatives because we will still need oil 7 years from now. The generally accepted fact that drilling now will not result in production for many years is not a reason not to drill, it is a reason to get busy drilling and to get busy making sure that the oil pumped in the USA stays in the USA. I am afraid that a lack of affordable gas and diesel will eventually result in a severe drop in the standard of living of many in America, and like the flood victims on the roofs in New Orleans they will be shocked to learn that they are pretty much on their own. Even the greenest among us will stop worrying about carabou, and begin worrying about feeding their families! As a firefighter/paramedic I see and help people every shift who would be helpless without their cars and the EMS system. People whose families call us when they can’t get their loved one off the toilet, or a chair, or the floor because they have been weakened by: disease, or obesity, or old age. Our call volume is 4 times what it was in the 70’s, but our staff is the same. Emergency rooms are on deversion every day, and we drive cross town in old worn out ambulances looking for
the help that our patients need. The cost of everything except energy inefficient houses is going up, but we are expected to be happy with a 1% raise next year! Where is all this headed? I have a sick feeling
that America will look a lot like Mexico in the future. A small percentage of very rich will live well, and the rest will be very poor.
Yes, questionable people are getting rich in our oil based system,
but we need to maintain it while we develop new systems. If things ever deteriorate to the point where the only way to the grocery store is walking or riding a bike… then a lot of people are going to die.
My hat is off to Mr Pickens for recognizing our current crisis.
To the oil speculators- repent you heathens! Repent or spend eternity with the likes of hitler and pol pot. The wounds you have inflicted so far might seem small to you, but in time the blood loss will
result in horrible weakness for America. You are in effect.., traitors.

Millions of barrels more of petroleum will do us absolutely no good if we can’t refine it. That’s where the bottleneck is. We should encourage drilling, but only in conjuction with building more refineries. One way to do it is to take away the oil companies tax breaks and then give them back for expanding refining capacity. I generally vote along Democratic lines, but if the Dems are blocking new refineries this is one area where they are wrong. There are ways to build refineries and still be environmentally responsible.
Although I do think Oil Companies should be required to drill on the off-shore leases they already have before acquiring more, I am in favor of easing restrictions on off-shore drilling merely for the symbolic impact it would have on oil futures.
T. Boone is probably right in his thinking, but we must explore all options.

It’s about time one of the Oil Giants realized that the days of black gold are coming to an end. I applaud Mr. Pickens for his thoughts and look forward to his actions on investing in an alternative energy infrastructure.

Oil is so old school. Solar is unlimited in it’s source and we need only invest in the infrastructure “once” to get the nation running heavily upon it. Infrastructure is the key to turning this nation around at this time anyway so why not get down to rebuilding our entire nations foundations, stop putting off necessary projects, slash the defense budget to pay for it all and watch not only our energy independence expand but pride in our accomplishments as citizens. Did I mention the jobs, better environment, a nation moving forward.
Our greatest challenge however is lack of leadership. Our system of government is skewed, short sighted and awash in petty politics.
Wheres the fast trains, new water systems to help drought areas and offset floods, Air traffic control system, Energy is but one major arena this nation is tasked with accomplishing in short order, but one that if done promptly and with priority will facilitate the accomplishment of so many needed others. After all it takes power to move mountains.

It’s seems fairly obvious that Bush administration’s solution to the current oil situation is to focus on oil alone. Clearly there must be a lot of pressure to focus on oil for oils’s sake in Washington. Capitol Hill has demonstrated a dazzeling lack of enthusiasm and ability in dealing with the current oil crisis. I suggest that we vote the bastards out the very next opportunity we get, and let private industry take the lead in setting up wind generators in the Mid West.
The President has made the statement that America is addicted to oil. Apparently he does not intend to confront the addiction directly. Sure, he’s supporting hydrogen R&D, but that solution is more than a decade distant. There is nothing the President has done or suggested that will help the United States out of this mess in less than 15 years.
Mr. Picken’s plan may actually be somewhat self-serving, in that he probably owns sizeable interests in natural gas, however the plan makes sense and can begin working for us within the next five to ten years.
Dovetailing with the Picken’s plan is the prospect of hybrid cars using natural gas instead of gasoline.
I will be writing to, and watching what my congressional leaders do in the next few months in addressing the Pickens Plan and other short-term solutions. These next few months will determine whether or not they get my vote in November. I suggest everyone reading this do the same.

He has a good idea, but we should also start taking reparations (in the form of oil) from Iraq. If we are spiraling into a depression from this war, it only makes sense to get our money back.

I think you definitely can drill out of the situation. Why not? They know how much oil is in the ground on the shores. They know how much is in Alaska. The total combined gives 20 years of domestic oil. Isn’t that a lot? It would bring prices back down to $2.00/gallon, and then we’d have more money to invest in technology that isn’t yet fully developed… like improving the solar cells that only are 20% efficient, and have to be replaced in 7 years, with saving$ that don’t even cover the first cost…. THAT’S WHY WE’RE NOT DOING SOLAR YET. HELLO! Wind seems pretty stable, and I think T.Boone has the right idea. The wind energy can set a stable, constant energy source, available 24 hrs a day, without need for storage. Sun gives 14 hrs in summer, 10 hrs in winter, if you’re lucky. We obviously need more time to figure it out, and drilling can at least give us more time.

The alternative is increasing $/gallon, even higher than 4, 5, 6 dollars a gallon, and by that time, it will be way too late - the trucking industry, the airline industry, the farm/food industry, and now the banks, (because people can’t afford their mortgages with everything increasing)…. ALL OF IT WILL FAIL, AND THEY ALREADY ARE, WITH HIGH ENERGY COSTS!!!!!!!

I have a large concern with credibility here. Mr. Pickens and his associates are best described as corporate raiders. His past, as in the destruction of Gulf Oil has been to manipulate a situation to his advantage, then cash in on a company’s forced sale of assets in an attempt to avoid a leveraged takeover. In the process countless people lost their jobs, pensions, healthcare, etc. - all to his making a substantial profit. While profit is not bad, his methods, and ruthless disregard for others calls into question his true motives. Perhaps more profit, but at who’s expense this time.

I totally agree with Mr. Pickens in that this energy crisis is NOT something we can drill our way out of….I don’t understand why mainstream media doesn’t take this ball and run with it…..why don’t we see the media(both paper and TV/radio) hammer each senator/representative and candidates on their comments and plan….Energy(the quest for fuels) could be the next basis for war and the current president has clearly shown that he and all his advisors don’t know how to win a war…..not sure America is the leader she thinks she is with the stupid people we elect to lead and represent us…..Media where are you????? Why doesn’t anyone tackle the futures market…that’s like traitors in our midst…to think that American’s are raming the prices of oil up and up and up through the futures trading…why doesn’t the media and candidates address those people and talk about regulation on futures markets?????

It’s a mess and seems only Mr Pickens has good answers.

We all know oil can’t sustain us forever, and its time for the oil companies to shift to other things. There’s no reason they can’t be involved and part of the switchover. They could really take learn from the electronics industry. Sony didn’t die when Walkman cassettes became outmoded. And the world will still need some oil in the interim, and oil is still needed to make plastics, *and* oil will still be necessary for the developing nations out there even if we do reduce and eventually eliminate our need for it. The oil industry isn’t in any immediate danger, and they’ll only hurt themselves further if they resist, instead of help.

I think the partial lifting of the offshore drilling ban will do nothing to lift the price of gasoline. Instead, the oil giants will moan and groan about the cost involved in drilling for said oil, and maintain their record profits. By the time that oil enters the market, the next excuse will be either ‘costly to obtain and transport’ or ‘lack of refining capacity,’ both excuses that have been used in the past.

Oil companies aren’t building new refineries for the simple reason that they can’t see how they’ll supply them in future years. Consider, for example, the case if US refinery capacity were expanded by, say, 15%. To run these refineries efficiently would require a similar increase in the amount of crude oil available as feedstock. Where’s this oil going to come from? Since the oil companies can’t answer that question either, building new refineries makes little sense to them.

Drilling is a chimera. Even if the new supplies could come on line tomorrow, their overall impact on global supply would be minute. Even if you buy the most outrageous estimates of reserves (e.g., 100 billion barrels), you’re looking at a max 11 year supply for the US at _current_ usage. My sense is it’s really more like 5 or 6.

So we invest 100s of billions of dollars in new drilling infrastructure, instead of investing it in a Manhattan Project style effort to move to other energy sources, run the environmental risks, and what do we get? Perhaps a half-decade extension on our current way of life.

Of course the oil won’t come onstream all at once. In 5 or 10 years, when it does come onstream at somewhere south of 1 million barrels a day, global production is likely to have decreased by as much as 10% (or 6-8 million barrels/day). Thus, we’ll still have a net defecit of as many as 7 million barrels of oil _per day_. The companies owning these assets may make money, but we’ll still be paying $15 or more at the pump.

BTW, with respect to production rates globally, check out Mexicos Cantarell field. Production there has declined by a third just this year alone. Cantarell produces a significant portion of the oil Mexico exports this way. When the crash comes, it will be a lot faster than most people expect.

Mr. Pickens also invests heavily in the companies that develop technology to create power from the means he mentions. Hmmm.

The Pickens Plan is a positive step forward. We need to support the plan and motivate our politicians to support this effort.

We will need oil for decades to come so while we build our alternative energy infrastructure we must continue to drill for oil here at home. Sending billions of dollars overseas for oil makes no sense.

If our members of congress and the senate do not want to get behind the Pickens Plan then we should replace them. We need to act today!

K. Kelley

Lifting the ban on ifshore drilling is probably a good idea. Not having credentials of scientints and do-nothing tpoliticians to solve any of our problems, lifting this ban is a long term solution, although, not permanentt. Offshore drilling will only supplement other forms of energy in the furure. We are well on the way of lowering emmissions with the introduction of Hybrid automobiles, soon to be plug in hybrids, hydrogen cell automobiles, solar powered plants, grain fuels and so on. By the time oil is actually reaped from our shores, other energy sources will be in place, and hopefully fullfilling the majority of our needs.
Just as important is the reason for energy indepedence as a country and major economy. Oil rich countries would not receive the windfalls they receive today, and as a nation, we will not be beholden to those oil rich countries ever again. The billions, if not, trillions of dollars spent on oil products overseas may finally be reaped by our country and re-invested into our society.

A nation of whiners according to Phil Gramm…Gramm is another idiotic oilman from Texas, who if he does not get off his dumb ass and get away from petroleum he can be regarded as having the same mentality as Bush…a complete IDIOT…Texas has long been full of these sorts of oilpushing morons…Oil with its hydrocarbon polluting emissions is killing our atmosphere and will make man extinct on this planet within one hundred years if its use is not curbed or completely phased out and on the double. T. Boone Pickens has a brain and has made enough money with oil. He now can get oil out of his mind and substitute it with “clean thinking” and clean energy alternatives such as windpower. He in fact should be president of the US at this time. Get rid of Bush and Oil should be the US motto put on coins, instead of In God We Trust, as a matter of fact.

Alot of what Mr. Pickens says may be true, but alot of what he says is driven by his latest business venture…..wind power. We need to utilize all of the energy sources we have available. We need to advance wind and solar energy options. Those provide electricity. They do NOT replace oil. Until we develope a battery that will allow you to travel distances, the electric car will not replace a gasoline powered vehicle. Hopefully, that is coming, but it is not here now, nor will it be for a number of years. Ethanol is fine. It can be used as an a gasoline substitute. But, at what price? It only provides 2/3 of the BTU capacity of gasoline, so you need an 3 gallons of ethanol to replace 2 gallons of gasoline. The energy used to plant, harvest and process corn, etc, to ethanol burns up more of the energy you are trying to save….not to mention the affect it is having on food. We cannot drill our way out of this. That is correct, but we must provide what oil and natural gas we can to power those sources that electricity cannot. Drilling offshore will not solve the issue, but it will allow us time to find and develop other alternatives. Drill here! Drill now! Save money!!

As a person who makes his living building massive facilities that extract oil from sand - I can easily see the future if we continue much farther along this path. It isn’t pretty what is going on, and people here in Alberta Canada are still buying expensive gas-powered toys like there is no tommorrow.

I’ve been aware of Peak Oil for about 4 years now - but I’d estimate 90% of people in this province have no clue about what it really is, nor do they care……..all you really read about in the papers or hear on the news is people at the pumps gassing up and bitching about the price of gas - and blaming it on the government.

T. Boone Pickens has it right - we can’t drill our way out of this. We couldn’t drill our way out of it in 1974 either - the big pools of oil under Texas were half-pumped out then. Read an article the other day from the TIme magazine archives written in 1974 - with regards to energy it is like we never learned a thing in 34 years. It is called A New Oil Hunt at Home….

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908368,00.html

Could someone please make sure that Obama and John M. both get to read this? We need a real hero real quick to make Mr. Pickens plan get off the ground, before it is too late.

We need to forget about 5 years, 10 years etc and start thinking on a more long term basis. Any money invested in more oil is money invested in a finite resource.

Did we learn nothing from the oil crisis of of the 70’s?

We should be investing our efforts, our money and our resources in coming up with new and long term energy solutions. Wind is certainly one. There are a number of viable options to choose from.

We need a new mind set to correct this problem. Our corporations and government leaders are interested in perpetuating what makes them rich now and have no interest in the real future. Lets face it a lot of politicians have connections to oil.

Sometimes I think the solutions are here and they just can’t figure out how to make us pay enough for the new energy. Sure wouldn’t want homes with efficient solar panels supplying all our power needs, with no way to put a meter on it.

Its about time we took the profit equation out of every day necessities. Government grants should be rewarding those who find low cost solutions energy solutions for average person, not a new profitable energy sources to make the oil rich richer.