Oilman T. Boone Pickens is waging a broad and costly campaign for alternative energy and is getting a great deal of support for his effort. He also is drawing criticism from skeptical sources who contend he’s only out to make more money.

To be sure, the 80-year-old billionaire, a recent visitor to Lawrence, is not seeking to go broke so he can gallantly point to his important cause and achieve martyrdom. But he is spending considerable money, and his views are well worth exploring.

Pickens has pumped $60 million of his own money into a nationwide television campaign. USA Today points out that T. Boone tends to upbraid politicians “for their decades-long inaction and casts natural gas as a ‘bridge fuel’ until renewable energy such as biofuels are ready.” That’s a legitimate complaint.

Opponents are quick to stress that Pickens could benefit handsomely if his idea takes off. He has planned to spend $10 billion on a mammoth 2,700-turbine wind farm in the Texas Panhandle. His company, Clean Energy Fuels, is the nation’s largest owner of natural gas refueling stations.

About the prospect of earning more money from the project, Pickens responds with a sly grin: “I’ve got enough money. More than I can ever use before I die. If I was after the money I wouldn’t put up $60 million. Will I get it back? I get it back if we get an energy plan.”

Even though there are those who oppose Pickens’ program and general efforts to formulate a new national energy plan, he and his proposals are getting a great deal of support. They should. The program is causing many who haven’t been interested up to now to think more about alternative energy sources.

That may be faint praise for what a $60 million ad campaign has produced, yet it reminds us that America and its people can find ways to solve major problems when they set priorities and pursue solid goals, with knowledgeable people in charge. Whatever the flaws in his effort to get more alternative energy action, T. Boone Pickens has given us much to think about. One can readily admire his willingness to help.

Old Boone is likely to do us all far more good than harm, even if he makes more money that he’s not around to spend. His is a healthy example of the kind of good citizenship that too often is in short supply when addressing critical situations.