Pickens Pushes for Energy Plan

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens will take his message that the U.S. needs to transition its trucks from diesel fuel to natural gas to some 500 business, government and industry leaders gathered in Richmond, Virginia, this evening.

Pickens, whose plan calls for replacing natural gas with wind and solar power in the nation’s electric grid and using natural gas as a transportation fuel, is concentrating now on the natural gas part of the equation, and will address the The Governor's Conference on Energy hosted by Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell this evening.

“The United States is not making any progress to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but Congress has a chance to change that when it returns after the midterm election,” said Pickens in a release. “There is legislation ready to be voted on in the Senate encouraging the greater use of natural gas to fuel 18-wheelers. By transitioning heavy trucks to run on this clean, abundant resource, we can begin reducing our dependence on Middle East oil—a dependence President Obama has pledged to eliminate in 10 years. President Obama can take another step toward this goal by issuing an executive order requiring all new federal vehicles to operate on a domestic fuel. We have the resources to get this accomplished, so now is the time for Congress and the President to act and to put an energy plan in place.”

Pickens points out that by his estimates, the nation imported 60 percent of its oil in September, at a cost of about $26 billion.

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