Pickens Plan

The "Pickens Plan" is a public policy and advertising campaign launched by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens in July, 2008, that calls for the reduction of the United States's demand for foreign oil by one-third in less than ten years.USA Today: Texas Oilman T. Boone Pickens Wants to Supplant Oil with Wind (July 8, 2008) The Plan calls for the nation to rapidly reduce its dependence on oil by focusing on a transition to wind power and natural gas. On July 22, 2008, Pickens appeared in front of Congress and discussed his plan for reducing foreign oil dependency to help solve the energy crisis.CNN Money: Pickens Urges Action on Energy Crisis (July 22, 2008)

Based on the premise that "America is addicted to foreign oil" and that global oil supplies have peaked, the Pickens Plan calls for massive investment in wind energy to generate power so that 20% of the nation's energy would be wind-generated. This would allow, according to the Plan, natural gas, which is currently used to generate over 20% of the nation's power, to be shifted to transportation uses. Natural gas is much cheaper and cleaner-burning than gasoline.PickensPlan: The Plan

On July 21, 2008, T. Boone Pickens appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss his plan for investing in domestic renewable resources. Pickens stated that the U.S. spends $700 billion every year on foreign oil. He suggested natural gas vehicles as a way to replace transportation fuel, thus reducing imports by 38 percent and saving the United States $300 billion per year.CNN: Pickens Talks About Alternative Energy (July 21, 2008)