NAPLES — T. Boone Pickens has put his energy – and a stack of his own money – behind a plan he says will help ween Americans off foreign oil.
He calls it the Pickens Plan and it finally appears to be gaining steam. He discussed the plan Tuesday at the Global Financial Leadership Conference, held at the Gulf-front Ritz-Carlton, Naples.
Pickens, a billionaire and chairman and CEO of BP Capital, said he’s spent $62 million of his own money to tell his story and push his energy plan.
“The problem is the security of America,” he said. “That’s where I come from.”
The U.S. imports 70 percent of its oil and much of it comes from “countries that hate us,” he said.
His solution? To start, he’s pushing to get the country’s 18-wheelers to switch from diesel to natural gas. There are 6.5 million of the trucks in the U.S. and if they all make the change within seven years that could cut the country’s dependence on foreign oil from OPEC – the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries – in half.
If President Obama gets behind the plan he would be the first president to reduce foreign imports of oil, Pickens said.
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NAPLES — T. Boone Pickens has put his energy – and a stack of his own money – behind a plan he says will help ween Americans off foreign oil.
