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.
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another_concerned_parent (anonymous) says…
I think a wind farm is great idea. I was wondering why the one that is along I-70 in western Kansas is not promoted more. There is no signage at all promoting this fabulous engery source. I think Atchison County is doing a fine job, by creating their own wind farm and thus their own energy for the communities. I wish some smaller rural communities would follow in their footsteps and do the same thing.
BABBOY (anonymous) says…
i think that is more central Kansas. But, there are some both north and south of Dodge City. There would be some coming to Topeka, but for some poor sports in the coal mining camp in the Statehouse.
LogicMan (anonymous) says…
From my post a few days ago:"T. is likely a decent guy, but unfortunately using CNG to power most vehicles is an option of last resort. CNG is quite dangerous to transfer, and then you're lugging around heavy tanks of highly compressed explosive gases. And your mileage stinks, so you need to refuel often.So yes, wind and nuclear electrical generation capacity need to be increased dramatically, and fast, but the displaced natural gas would best be used for intracity buses and other short haul vehicles that are built like tanks and can be refueled centrally by trained folk. Also for heating our homes and making petrochemicals like fertilizers.And then the savings in diesel from [using] the CNG buses, etc. could be used to fuel more small diesel cars, like they have [had] in Europe for a long time."Someone please ask him if he's ever personally refueled a CNG vehicle.
JSpizias (anonymous) says…
1. another_concerned_parent (Anonymous) says:"I think a wind farm is great idea."My wife and I drove to Denver on July 24 and returned on July 28. On both days a clear majority of the turbines visible from I-70 were not turning. I don't know why; perhaps transmission lines are not yet available. However, I have read that turbines are notoriously difficult to maintain and keep in working order.2. I have personal experienced with T. Boone Pickens economics. We bought Mesa Petroleum in the eighties. As I recall when we sold it had lost essentially all the value of our investment. Business Week had a long article about T. Boone and how he operates in a recent issue describing his efforts to control and market the Ogallala acquifer ("There will be water"). http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/... Better read it before jumping on the T. Boone Wind Wagon! William Saroyan did it much better with Windwagon Smith (http://www.wagonmasters.org/about/win...) and with about as much reality as T. Boone's great wind plan.
steveg (anonymous) says…
t. boone pickens' real agendaSubmitted by kcbioguy on July 29, 2008 - 7:21pm.Forget wind energy, he's just blowing smoke! His real play is for money, in the form of land and water.Pickens owns 200,000 acres of land for which he's developing the wind farm. Wind farms work like this: a 100 MW wind farm should generate about $300 Million in direct, indirect and induced economic impact to the community, county, and state fortunate enough to attract a wind farm. Landowners hosting wind turbines will receive a healthy chunk of that figure: the average landowner in a lease with our company receives roughly $4,000/year per turbine in the first 10 years, then about $6,000/year per turbine after that. This includes royalties on the energy generated from each turbine, so these figures assume a Class 4 wind site. For six (6) turbines located on a 640-acre section, that's at least $24,000 per year in additional revenue, AND the landowner can continue to farm or graze cattle right up to the base of each turbine. (more at http://www.energypulse.net/centers/ar..., Pickens' 200,000 acres sits on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the worlds largest that spans from South Dakota to the Texas panhandle. He plans on draining water from this source and piping it in a 9 foot line to Dallas. This action alone will deplete an already dwindling resource due to droughts and overuse. It will take thousands of years for the aquifer to replenish.FYI, western Kansas is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this aquifer. Everything he takes out of Texas will be refilled by water flowing from the north. Think about it.Get more info at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquiferhttp://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/us/bulksales/texas/http://digg.com/environment/Forget_Wind_Is_T_Boone_Pickens_Scamming_Droughts_for_Cashhttp://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4275059.htmlhttp://seekingalpha.com/article/24410-t-boone-pickens-invests-in-water-should-youOK, this guy spent his entire life helping feed our need for oil. It can be argued that he even helped create the need for oil by making sure there was so much of it, and the price was low enough, that people didn't care how much they used.He has an enormously powerful lobby, and can get Texas politicians (gee, where's Bush from?) to do anything he wants.If Pickens is truly interested in being environmentally beneficial and helping make America more energy sufficient, he would be promoting the rapid development and deployment of technologies that reduce the use of OIL, such as electric vehicles.Do some research before praising this guys "noble" efforts to support wind energy development.Demand accountability. Demand responsibility. Denounce greed. And for goodness sakes, do something that really makes a difference!reduce, reuse, recycle, restore. Peace.
jimincountry (anonymous) says…
Harness the political/self-serving bs and there'd be enery enough to supply the western world.
belexus73 (anonymous) says…
The site along I-70 is being developed by Tradewinds. The reason some of the turbines do not seem to be working is the site is still under construction and is being developed in two phases.
gr (anonymous) says…
"he would be promoting the rapid development and deployment of technologies that reduce the use of OIL, such as electric vehicles."Well, I agreed with most of what you said, but could you explain how electric vehicles don't make use of OIL? I could be wrong, but I believe they actually increase the use of oil.
toe (anonymous) says…
Topeka has no energy. Pickens made a bad choice going there.