Topeka ? Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is bringing his crusade to break the country’s addiction to foreign oil to the heart of the wind belt.

Pickens will hold a town hall meeting at Heritage Hall at 4 p.m. today in Topeka to talk about his plan to decrease oil imports and increase wind energy and the use of natural gas.

Heritage Hall is part of the Kansas Expocentre complex at 17th Street and Topeka Boulevard. The meeting is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m., and the event is limited to 400 people.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Pickens, a famed oilman, said, “We built the country on cheap oil, but we haven’t had the leadership in the country we need to start weaning ourselves off.”

With oil at record prices and gasoline hovering around $4 per gallon at the pump, Pickens is getting a receptive audience for his ideas.

His Web site www.pickensplan.com has gotten 2.5 million hits, he said.

And if anyone doubts his motives – he is building the world’s largest wind farm in Texas and has natural gas holdings – Pickens says his cards are on the table.

“At 80 years old, I’m worth $4 billion. I don’t need to make any more money,” he said.

Essentially, Pickens has called for an increase in the nation’s wind-generated electricity from the current 1.5 percent to 22 percent over the next 10 years. This would free up natural gas that is now used to produce electrical power.

That natural gas would then be used for vehicles and replace gasoline and the 38 percent of the nation’s oil imports from the Middle East and Africa, he said.

This is Pickens’ first town hall meeting since he announced his plan. He said he picked Kansas because of its great wind energy potential. He said he is familiar with Kansas from having sold a lot of natural gas out of the Hugoton field.

Before the town hall meeting, he will meet briefly with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who then will introduce him at the event.

“He’s bringing much-needed focus on America’s dependence on foreign oil and urging development of alternative energy,” said Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran. “Whether folks agree with him completely or not, he certainly knows how to stimulate conversation and discussion on this important issue.”

While pushing for his plan, Pickens hasn’t abandoned oil. He said he supports expansion of drilling for oil offshore and in Alaska.

But, he said, he doesn’t want to get involved in partisan fights that are going on over energy issues.

Pickens said he believes Americans will step up to the challenge of changing the nation’s energy future.

“It’s good for America. If we don’t solve this problem – health care, education, Social Security – you won’t have enough money to do it,” he said.