I COMPLETELY DISSAGREE !! We must continue the oil reserve as it is and supplement it with alternative fuels as they become practical. However, to put the oil reserve at risk, as suggested by Boone Pickens, is a manipulative way of getting leverage for GAS when the oil reserve is allowed to be depreciated. Ron Pierson

just leave the spr as it is, but pump natural gas as much as possible. people need to drop their' resentful idea that "i dont want boone pickens to make all the money". corporations will make money on fuel weather its oil, gas, coal or anything else. we need policy and we need leadership...we have neither. even at todays nat gas prices (cheap), the corporations must be making money or they wouldnt be involved in it. if we pump enough of it then the price will stay down. nat gas, and oil are the future that might bring this deficit and economy back where they belong. do this, but do it safely. thank y0u boone pickens.

I disagree with Boone on this as well. Having the SPR around is like an insurance against a huge rise in oil prices....for whatever reason. Using up our insurance policy will barely lower the prices at the pump, and even then it will only last for a short amount of time. 727 million barrels of oil divided by our current consumption rate of 18 mbpd equals only about 40 days of supply. I agree with a lot of Boone's ideas, but not this one!

We must employ our technology to ween ourselves from the fossil fuel dilema. It is a finite resource and getting harder and more costly to bring it to market. Natural Gas is our trump card and we cannot afford to sit idly by. The likes of CLNE, FSYS, WPRT and LNG will allow us to keep our dollars at home and not feed our enemies. Don't forget, petroleum is a key ingredient for the Pharmaceutical industry. If we act boldly, the SPR will become a moot point.

Boone, Glad to hear from you as it has been some time since I last did and began wondering if you were well and stormin' ahead and fighting the good fight clearly you are and that's great news indeed. That said, as an Obama voter (not once, but twice) I have been terribly disappointed in his , "all rhetoric and no substance energy approach". Was more than glad to see Energy Secretary Chu slide off into the sunset after he and Obama absolutely squandered 4 long years of a "nothing" national energy polcy except continuation of the status quo and that's continuing dependency on imported crude even though less so than in previous years. Since the Nixon Administration declared US energy policy has been "American energy independence". All talk and no "walk"--all hat and no cattle--all bull s--t and more dependency, more reliance from nations, many of which, that in no way have our best interests in mind. Even Canada wants every dollar they can get from us for their crude which I can certainly understand when your dealing in a world priced commodity. Why not get practical and design a plan to use what we have, rather than what we must partially import to the tune of some billion plus dollars annually? I equated American energy policy as akin to dying of thirst while swimming in a pool of potable (drinkable) water in the way that it deprives this nation of over 400 billion dollars a year that could remain right here in the American economy circulating and multiplying its economic benefits to virtually every citizen in this country. WE COULD have an "extra" trillion dollars here in the US that we now lose each and every year. That's money for education, medical research, social programs, national infrastructural improvements, millions of new jobs, retiring our runaway national debt, etc and in general restoration of American prosperity. That beats the hell out of continuing down the road to national bankruptcy and decline. As you have repeatedly pointed ou, our present "plan" is resulting in the greatest transfer of national wealth in all human history---its an unsustainable approach that we are presently following. The sooner we get started climbing out of this black hole the sooner we return prosperity and American world pre-eminence. A place all right thinking Americans believe we should occupy. By all means we need every public school bus fleet, every OTR heavy duty truck, every mass transportation vehicle, every railroad (as Warren Buffett is studying with his BNSF locomotives) and all new power generators powered by American produced natural gas or its derivatives LNG or CNG. Better, cheaper, cleaner, abundant, vastly more secure and produced here in the United States. To hell with OPEC, terrorism and playing "policeman to the world" we have a much, much better solution thanks to America's massive natural gas reserves. Our basic problem isn't a supply or engineering problem; it's a political problem that's spelled CRONYISM--vote the paid off pandering crooks that pose as our "representatives" but support themselves first, foremost and always. I've had all that government "servicing" I can tolerate how 'bout you all? Godspeed Boone, keep giving the bastards hell---as they damn sure warrant it.

I hadn't given it much thought up to now but our defense of middle east oil and the Strait of Hormuz is an anachromism we can no longer afford. Remember our 16 plus trillion and counting national debt? We no longer depend on middle east oil as we did a few years ago and don't have a dog in that fight. If it is of strategic importance that we protect European Oil, then Europe needs to pony up and pay the lions share of the cost. The fact that we are in possession of the largest reserves of Natural Gas means we are also in possession of fixing our own problems on dependence on oil. One of the few things I agree with President Obama on is our need to invest in infrastructure to support converting our trucking fleet to Compressed Natural Gas as well as all Federal, State, and Local Government Vehicles. If we don't have money to spend, this is the most important issue we should borrow for. It is a question of national security as well as a strong economy. Natural Gas is abundant, cheaper, and burns cleaner. If we just converted all the 18 wheelers on our highways, the savings in transporting our goods would quickly convert to lower prices in our grocery stores, appliance stores, etc. What is so hard about understanding that? Come on people! Get with it! I don't care if the big oil companies wind up supplying the gas as long as it is an American Company making the profits.