So, T. Boone Pickens is also a Communist out to destroy America?

Question

What do you think of his plan?

Solar and wind to replace natural gas electric production, and shift that gas to transportation. Foreign oil problem solved. Trade balance solved. Major advance to renewables. Major advance to reduce greenhouse gasses.

Answer 1

If solar and wind power is economically feasible, I have no problems.  To my understanding it is not as of yet.

Answer 2

Joseph Romm deosn't seem to like Pickens' plan all that much:

http://climateprogress.org/2008/07/22/fi...

And a lot of proponents cite Pickens as the "perfect example" of a republican oil man who is changin ways for the good of the country. Well, sadly, it isn't so simple:

Ask how many read the lower-fine print and noticed that the leasing contracts obliges Boone to the "mineral-rights" below the turbines as well....

Ask some farmers throughout Southwest Kansas, Ok Panhandle, and the Texas panhandle about Boone's 140,000 acre plot and his plan (still held up in courts) - to begin pumping the water out of that region's ONLY water source--the Ogallala aquifer--and shipping it to the Dallas area for a nice profit.

Pickens knows that oil is on the way out, with wind, solar, geothermal, etc on the way in, and he wants a piece of the action. He also notes that water will be "the new oil"--he owns more water than any other in the country, and the buying up of land for his wind power project is helping him acquire even more.

(uh-oh, I copied and pasted from another question. I feel like Bob)

Answer 3

No...he's a capitalist who's bought into the global warming myth and is looking to profit from it.  As proponents are so quick to point out:  The man doesn't have a degree in climatology...can't blame him for listening to the scientists.

Answer 4

Dr. Blob - do you have any idea how much money he stands to make from his plan?  Pickens is a clever businessman.

It's difficult for a PhD paid by the U.S. government to relate to people and their situations outside their little fantasy world.

Answer 5

No, he's an oil exec who knows that countries using more "renewable energy" actually end up using a higher percentage of oil for energy than countires that hardly use any renewable energy!  He's smart and has done his research.  Enron was heavily invested in renewables many years ago, too, and I don't think they cared about the environment or global warming!  

People who blindly accept whatever T. Boone Pickens has to say despite his background and despite the data showing renewables often not decreasing but are actually increasing the proportion of oil used by countries are crazy (or are part of the scam)!

Primary energy consumption by fuel:

UK

Renewable energy: 1.7%

Oil: 35.6%

Denmark

Renewable energy: 16.2%

Oil: 41.6%

http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/atlas/v...

Another Enron-supported scheme:

"It's a peculiar and pervasive phenomenon in the nation's capital. Invent a major problem where none exists, then propose a complicated and costly solution, create yet another bureaucratic fiefdom and hand out scads of federal grant money and patronage positions.

That's apparently what Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) have in mind with their new legislation to install a "cap-and-trade" system for controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

Their bill essentially was drafted by the eco-activist Pew Center on Global Climate Change and several multinational conglomerates, including British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell. It would establish mandatory emissions limits for carbon dioxide and set up an exorbitantly expensive Rube Goldberg apparatus that would allow companies to buy or sell permits to emit CO2.

It is the sort of plan Enron used to lobby for."

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA446.htm...

Answer 6

eric, solar THERMAL, not photovoltaic, is already economical.  Wind is coming along slowly.  Photovoltaics still need a technology breakthrough of some sort.

Answer 7

I say, let him foot the 2 trillion dollar bill, unless of course you are willing to do it.   I for one will fight it tooth and nail.

Answer 8

Moving off of oil is a liberal ploy to rob the super rich of their hard earned money. Lol.

We can either make a concerted effort and get into natural energy really fast now. Or we can s***w around with domestic oil, become disappointed several years from now when all our coastal drilling drops a gallon of gas from 7 dollars a gallon to the bargain price of 6.80 per gallon, then decide to focus on wind and solar.

Or we can do it now.