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Pickens Still Wants Cars to Run on Natural Gas |
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Supporters of T. Boone Pickens keep telling me that he has modified his plan, that he has given up on the idea of converting all cars to natural gas. They tell me that he has wised up, and is willing to shift his focus on natural gas entirely to semi trucks and other large vehicles. This is not the case.
Consider this morning’s Austin-American Statesman article on Pickens (emphasis mine):
Pickens used the opportunity to promote his plan for using wind power to generate electricity, replacing natural gas that now generates more than 20 percent of the country’s electrical power.Natural gas, he said, should be used instead to fuel cars and trucks, which would, he contends, slash the nation’s dependence on foreign oil by more than a third.
Or consider his new TV advertisement, which clearly shows a natural gas vehicle while touting the jobs his plan could create.
Or you could consider the plan itself, which prominently displays a picture of a natural gas vehicle.
Finally, if you still aren’t convinced, read the man’s book, The First Billion is the Hardest. If you do so, please consider checking it out from the library. In his book he makes it perfectly clear that regardless of political and financial setbacks, he will not give up until a majority of the vehicles in the United States are fueled by natural gas. He may be willing to pivot to a trucks only approach temporarily for political purposes, but he will never give up on his fatally flawed idea.
his proposale smells like ‘rotten egges’ just like the gas he’s peddleing.
Pickens has ALWAYS said - since he began doing town hall-type meetings last summer - that he “doesn’t want your car” because of the sheer scale of the effort to move 250 million cars from gasoline to natural gas. He has always focused on 18-wheelers, fleet vehicles and municipal buses.
Also, the Pickens Plan - from the very first ad - called natural gas “a bridge fuel” until battery, hydrogen or some other technology comes on line. As he says, you can’t move an 18-wheeler with a battery. The only fuel which can replace imported diesel is domestic natural gas and quickly and severely reducing our dependence on foreign oil is at the heart of the Pickens Plan.
So, the Pickens Plan, as it relates to natural gas, has always had a limited scope and limited time period. If you really want to know what it’s all about (after you’ve returned your copy of “The First Billion is the Hardest” to the library), go to http://www.PickensPlan.com and decide for yourself.