Picken's Plan? Wind power... anyone heard about it?

[Dammit Ann]

http://www.pickensplan.com/

Check it out and I would appreciate info... T. Boone Pickens... Why does that sound familiar to me?

[two gun sid]

1. Okie oilman. Funded the Swiftboaters. All around scumbag.

[Dammit Ann]

2. Just googled him. Pretty much.

The commercial just threw me, had to jump on here and ask, I should always google.

[The Magistrate]

5. The Wind Element, Ma'am, Is Just That

Smoke blown for the real gist, which is use of natural gas for automobiles: the man has large holdings of the stuff, and owns no wind....

[ben_meyers]

6. Oh, but he does own the wind.

LUBBOCK, Texas - Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is planning to cash in on the wind energy boom by building the world's largest wind farm in West Texas.

The oil tycoon wants to install large wind turbines in parts of four Panhandle counties in a project that would produce up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity.

If Pickens' company, Mesa Power LP, does build the wind farm it would be the largest in the world, American Wind Energy Association spokeswoman Susan Williams Sloan said. It would generate more than five times the 735 megawatts produced at the present largest wind farm near Abilene.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19231397/

[The Magistrate]

7. Thank You, Sir

Sounds like he wants the government to pay for it while he collects the profit....

[tridim]

10. Whatever his plan, I'm sure it will make him more money than he spent on the ads.

[mcctatas]

4. He must have started feeling the icy fingers of death on his

throat lately, trying to atone for a lifetime of douchebaggery in his final years...

[ben_meyers]

9. Far from it(see above post)

Pickens sees a profit from the wind and is the largest owner of NG refueling stations in America.

[WhiteTara]

3. he was an oil raider in Texas before

those other things. Very slimy, however, the Panhandle and West Texas is a wind tunnel and it makes lots of sense.

He buying all the water in the aquifers too.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-t-boone-pickens-plan-080708-ht,0,3211333.story
The present-day story unfolding over water's future may offer opportunities for investors able to envision it as a valuable commodity that benefits companies involved in its sale, distribution, purification and infrastructure.

Corporate raider and oilman T. Boone Pickens has been buying up water rights in the Texas Panhandle in the belief that water is going to become scarce and salable. This follows the logic that climate change, shrinking lakes and rivers and population growth will make increasing portions of the world susceptible to water shortages.

With that in mind, governments and companies around the world are beginning to take steps to deal more effectively with the issue of water. The number of ways to invest in water-related companies has increased.

[parasim]

8. Hey, he may be an asshole oilman, but...

if he's promoting wind power and not oil... i'm all for it. Sure, he'll exploit it, but windpower is so much better than burning oil... Hell, if Exxon starting making obscene profits from wind, solar, hydro power, it certainly would be better than what we got now. Wouldn't it?

[jobycom]

12. I cautiously agree..

If there's no switcharoo, he's got a good plan, and I don't mind who makes money off it if it does what's needed.

I've sometimes thought of him as evil, but I've never thought of him as a con artist. As he said, he's 80 and has $4 billion. Money isn't a big factor for him anymore.

[jobycom]

11. He's a big peak oil believer. He's a mixed bag.

He's a big Republican backer, especially Bush, being Texan, and supported the Swiftboaters and "The American Spectator" magazine--which was the center of the whole "Get Clinton" crap in the 90s. On the other hand, he had some unkind words about Bush Daddy in the first Gulf War, so he's not always a lock-step kind of guy.

He's been big in the natural gas field for a while, but his "Pickens Plan" wants to eliminate the natural gas used to create electricity and replace it with wind power. He's a proponent of natural gas for vehicles because it burns cleaner. His plan has the backing of the Sierra Club.

He's a big philanthropist, and gave a lot of money to Katrina relief, and to other charity and disaster relief funds.

He's just a mixed bag, and follows his own lead, for better and worse. Backed Bush, slandered Clinton and Kerry, yet is united with the Sierra Club against the oil industry now. Take your pick.

[SoCalDem]

13. Some forward thinking old-timers have used that newfangled wind-thing before

[liberal N proud]

14. It is probably the only time I have ever agreed with this creep

He is telling the country that the off shore drilling is a scam basically. Of course no one is listening.

[Strelnikov_]

15. We would be better off using the natural gas for home heating

to maximize exergy.

92% for home heating

15% (or less) as a transportation fuel

Battery electric EV's or PHEV's are ready today for personal transportation (70%)

Electrified rail for mass transit (90%)

Using natural gas for transportation makes no sense, whatsoever, considering the alternatives (EV, PHEV) available.

Electrification of transportation is the way forward. Perpetuating the 12% to 15% exergy of ICE based transportation infrastructure is no way forward, and simply leads us down another energy infrastructure box canyon.

[Marblehead]

22. I agree n/t

[spanone]

16. these saturation ads are costing millions....

[dems_rightnow]

18. He'll still be able to eat.

Don't start a fund drive. :)

[KharmaTrain]

17. His Own Hot Air Can Fuel A Large City

The dude has made his fortune in speculation and controlling markets...and this time his game is Natural gas. His "plan" calls for wind to replace natural gas that is supposed to be the new fuel for your cars...trading one fossil mess for another and lining his pockets in the process since he has financial interests in all the companies. Then, he'll gladly donate millions to the GOOP. One of the sleeziest of the sleezy...and that takes lots of work.

[alarimer]

19. At one time he was trying to buy up water

somewhere in N. Texas to sell to Coca Cola or something. Not a good guy.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. A: He is lower than whale shit. B: He sounds very much like James Baker, the ............

........... Bush family consigliere. Its that Houston accent.

[greenman3610]

21. I use his quote in my program

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/business/23wind.html?pagewanted=all

“I have the same feelings about wind,” Mr. Pickens said in an interview, “as I had about the best oil field I ever found.” He is planning to build the biggest wind farm in the world, a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city by itself.


He may be a scumbag, certainly he's no liberal. That's why
it's effective to use him to boost the credibility of the
renewable energy message. People know he's in it for the
money, not altruism.
For more on the plan itself, try here:

http://climateprogress.org/2008/07/08/memo-to-t-boone-pickens-your-energy-plan-is-half-brilliant-half-dumb/

So a large-scale switch to NGVs by consumers is not going to happen no matter what T. Boone does. But he could help accelerate windpower into the marketplace and for that alone he deserves some kudos.