Capping off a furious week of television and radio appearances, speeches, “conversations” and interviews, Boone had a major opinion piece published in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday.

He reminded the readers of President-elect Barack Obama’s home-town newspaper that despite the (temporary) decline in oil prices, we are still importing 70 percent of the oil we use.

Boone quoted a new study by the International Energy Agency which warned “Output from the world’s oil fields is declining faster than previously thought . . . annual output will decline by 8.6 percent.” So, when the world’s economies recover and the demand for oil goes back up: “Higher demand. Lower supply. Spiking prices.”

In writing that we must “end our addiction to foreign oil” Boone reminded Chicago’s readers that “Natural gas is cleaner, cheaper, abundant, available now, and completely domestic.”

Read the entire column from Sunday’s Chicago Tribune HERE.

– The Pickens Team

In his first interview since winning the presidency, Barack Obama sat down for a lengthy discussion with Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes that was broadcast nationwide Sunday night. Among the many topics the President-elect spoke about were the country’s addiction to foreign oil and the longstanding American habit of not developing and implementing an energy plan. A key portion of their conversation follows:

(CBS) Kroft: When the price of oil was at $147 a barrel, there were a lot of spirited and profitable discussions that were held on energy independence. Now you’ve got the price of oil under $60.

Mr. Obama: Right.

Kroft: Does doing something about energy is it less important now than…

Mr. Obama: It’s more important. It may be a little harder politically, but it’s more important.

Kroft: Why?

Mr. Obama:Well, because this has been our pattern. We go from shock to trance. You know, oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important, and we start, you know filling up our SUVs again.

And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It’s part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it.

CLICK HERE TO SEND THE PRESIDENT-ELECT AN EMAIL AND LET HIM KNOW YOU AGREE THAT NOW IS THE TIME TO BREAK OUR ADDICTION TO FOREIGN OIL.

CLICK HERE TO READ OR WATCH THE INTERVIEW.

T. Boone Pickens was a guest on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, discussing the future of domestic energy with host Tom Brokaw.

In the discussion, Boone made it clear that the only way for President-elect Obama to make good on his promise to import no oil from the Middle East within 10 years was the Pickens Plan.

“I believe him when he says that, which tells me he has a plan, and that plan would have to use natural gas, because natural gas is the one and only fuel that moves an 18-wheeler other than diesel and gasoline.

“You can’t do it with a hybrid. You can’t do it with battery. You can’t do it with a fuel cell. the only fuel — so when you — it’s not like we’re choosing a fuel. It’s the only fuel that we have in America that will replace foreign oil. “

Boone also talked about the future of Wind Energy and the effect developing wind will have on the economy:

“I don’t receive my first turbine until 2010, so I’ll get it done, and we’ll be going by 2010. It’s — we have to get — in America we have to get on our own resources, and wind and solar are going to have to be used.

“The first year when you start that program — and it should be started within the next year or two — that when you start that program, the first year will be 138,000 jobs and by the time you finish it, it will be 3.5 million jobs.”

Brokaw asked Boone whether the drop in oil and gasoline prices will have an effect on the drive toward alternative fuels:

“Well, first, we’re importing almost 70%. I think that is a huge security problem for the country. If you look back over the history of oil prices, gasoline prices, we’ve yo-yoed at times. In the 1970s the price went up, and then we had plenty of oil all at once from the Middle East. When we did, the price went down. We put away any ideas of renewables at that point, and then in the 1908s, the 1990s, and here we are again, the price has gone down, so, oh, boy, we’re fixed.

“Well, we’re not fixed because we’re still importing almost 70%. This is great to have cheaper gasoline prices. No question about that. If there’s anything that helps our economy it’s lower energy costs. There are only two ways you can go, Tom, on this. One, you have an energy plan to solve the problem and if you don’t have an energy plan, that means you’re for foreign oil.

“It’s going to come down to very clear up or down, and it’s going to be the American people are going to — are going to demand an energy plan for the future generations of our country.”

For a transcript of the entire conversation between T. Boone Pickens and Tom Brokaw, click here.

– The Pickens Team

You and Boone are big believers in natural gas. Not only is it clean, cheap, and ours, but it’s better for you car.
My buddy has got a ’38 Packard that he’s been running natural gas for 25 years. He’s never had a problem with it. The benefits of natural gas are cleaner combustion. You don’t need to change your oil only half as much.

How long between pit stops?
You can go 10,000 miles between oil changes, 15,000 miles.

So in addition to being cleaner, there’s less wear and tear on your vehicle.
Easier on the motor. When you start your car, a gallon of gas displaces almost a gallon of water. You see water coming out of people’s tailpipes when they first start up? That’s why. With natural gas you get none of that. There are a few things you need to do if you want to do it properly.

What about convenience?
Honda makes a fantastic car they’ve been running on natural gas for 10 years. In Los Angeles you can actually put the filling station in your home. You can get the car and the filling station and everything with all the government give-back and all the tax breaks for under twenty grand. It’s a brand-new Honda that does everything the regular Honda does except it’s 99.99999 percent pollution free.

If CNG is cleaner and cheaper, why aren’t more of us driving more natural-gas-powered cars? Right now for most Americans natural gas is equal. But because it’s harder to track down and not as convenient to fill up, it makes it a little less than equal. So they’re scared of it. They’re frightened that they’re going to be stranded or something of that nature might happen. That’s your biggest fear. The real trick is to put people in natural gas cars and drive them around. Then they say, “This is natural gas? Well, it feels like my regular car.”

Another problem with most Americans is that we like everyone to know the good work we’re doing anonymously. So when you drive around in a Prius you can make a statement that you’re saving the planet. When you drive around in a regular car that has a little natural gas sticker on the bottom of the bumper, it doesn’t quite have the cachet. You know what I’m saying?

Got it.
If somebody made a natural gas car that looked like it just stepped out of the future – I mean it could have a traditional internal combustion engine and just run on natural gas but look like something from outer space – oh my God, you would be seen as saving the planet.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED, CONDENSED, AND EDITED BY ERIC O’KEEFE

Army:

I understand there is some confusion about our wind project in Pampa, Texas. The current economic situation is having an effect on our project, but my commitment to wind energy as a cornerstone of the Pickens Plan has not diminished one bit. The economy will recover, and we will be able to provide 3.5 million new jobs in the wind sector over the next ten years.

But that doesn’t change the focus of the Pickens Plan: We have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil through the use of wind, solar and natural gas or we will find ourselves in this economic ditch permanently.

Here’s the statement Mesa Power put out the other day.

“The capital markets are problematic for everyone, and we are keeping an eye on them. We are committed to wind development projects and believe it’s a viable business for us. The capital markets may lead us to slow down a bit but we are still going forward with our wind business,” said Jay Rosser, spokesperson for Mesa Power.

– Boone

In case any of you missed it, Boone was on the Daily Show last night.

Watch the video and see Jon Stewart announce that he and his audience would follow Boone out the building!!

Pass this along to five of your friends and get them to join Boone and the New Energy Army in the fight for American energy independence!

If you enjoyed Boone on The Daily Show, please digg the video of the segment now.

Hey, Army.

We’re in New York City for a bunch of meetings and media. On Wednesday I met with, probably a dozen reporters including the New York Times and a group of energy papers and web sites.

The centerpiece of the day was a conversation with Steve Forbes at his Forbes Magazine “Energy Conference.” Steve and I talked about the Pickens Plan and what I think is going to happen with it when the new Congress and the new Administration start up in January.

Someone asked why I thought the federal government would do anything about an energy plan if they haven’t done it in 40 years.

I told them about you.  The New Energy Army.

I said “I now have about 1.4 million people behind me and having a good plan with that size of an army is, I think, going to make them act.”

I also reminded Steve Forbes that President-elect Obama has said, at least twice on the record, that in 10 years we would no longer be importing oil from the Middle East.

The only way to get there, is substituting natural gas for diesel as the principal fuel for over-the-road trucks.

I am very confident we are going to get action on the Pickens Plan in Washington next year.

The most fun of the day was an appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. When I was explaining about the need to cut down on foreign oil and use domestic fuels.

Jon Stewart said, “mayonnaise and white bread? We should run our cars on mayonnaise and white bread?” I said, “As long as they’re made in America!”

After I got into the full explanation Stewart said, “I think I would … and my audience would … follow you out of this building right now!” and the audience cheered and applauded.

You can watch the entire interview, which is very entertaining, by clicking HERE.

– Boone

T. Boone Pickens will appear on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight to discuss the Pickens Plan and his new book, “The First Billion is the Hardest.”

The Daily Show airs at 11 PM (10 Central) on the Comedy Central network.

Tune in tonight and watch Boone and Jon on the Daily Show!

– The Pickens Team

Hey, Army! This is a late-breaking story that I wanted to share with you.

The polling firm of Zogby International did a national survey sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation right after the election and asked about investing in clean energy.

According to the poll, 78 percent “believe investing in clean energy is important to revitalizing America’s economy.”

The survey of over 3,300 voters found that “Support for clean energy investment is particularly strong among younger voters - 87% of those age 18-24 and 80% of those age 18-29 believe this type of investment is necessary to help improve the U.S. economy.”

This is important as the new Congress and the new Administration look for ways to get our economy turned around. You’ve read, I know, that the Department of Energy believes buildling out or wind energy production throughout the Wind Corridor could add 3.5 million new jobs over the next ten years.

Click HERE to read the entire analysis.

This is very important news and I wanted to share it with you.

– Boone.

Yesterday we were in Bismarck, North Dakota; today we went to Scottsdale, Arizona. From about 13 degrees and nine inches of snow to 80’s and clear skies. All to promote the Pickens Plan.

This was a meeting of the Edison Electric Institute - the industry group of the guys who produce electricity. These are the big-time players like Southern Companies and the entrepreneurial guys who are putting together wind and solar deals.

The deal was to have a conversation with Ron Insana - you remember him from CNBC - talking about the Pickens Plan.

Not everyone in the audience was a huge supporter. Some of the guys think the existing grid is just fine and we don’t need to spend money upgrading it. Others don’t much like the part of the plan calling for using natural gas as a transportation plan because they use natural gas as a fuel in their generation plants and they’re afraid it will drive the price of natural gas up.

They’re right. It will. But domestic natural gas will still be cheaper than foreign oil. And it will always be an American resource.

Two points I want to make. First, everyone who attended the EEI conference got a copy of my book, “The First Billion is the Hardest.” Ron was kind enough to point out that all of the proceeds from the book - which is on the best seller list - go to the Ft. Bliss Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas and to the Fisher Houses which are places where the families of wounded service members can stay while their loved one undergoes rehabilitation. Especially since this was Veterans’ Day, I was happy that Ron told everyone about that.

The second point is this: One of most senior guys from one of the biggest companies came up to me and said “Boone, we know how sincere you are about this.” You know that people in the energy business - drilling, refining, construction, or production - are not known as the most sensitive people you’ll ever meet. That fellow saying that to me, told me a lot about how much progress we’re making.

After the “conversation” I had with Ron Insana, I went and did my usual visit with the press corps.

This is really important because by being on every television station, in the local paper, and on the Associate Press means we will reach 100 times or more the number of people who were at the meeting in the Phoenix area and all through Arizona.

And I get to tell the reporters that when they interview elected officials they should ask about foreign oil, ask them about the Pickens Plan and, if they say they don’t like the Pickens Plan they should ask them what their plan is.

If they don’t have a plan, then their plan is the status quo - foreign oil.

– Boone

You’re living proof that you don’t have to have a law degree to go far in politics.
That’s right. I’m an agricultural scientist. I’ve been around the world: 37 countries. I lived in Saudi Arabia for seven years and speak Arabic.

The Saudis obviously have their energy needs pretty well taken care of. Name a country outside of the Middle East that’s been proactive in developing an energy plan.
Argentina.

I thought you would have said Brazil with its cane-based ethanol.
They clearly do, but I like Argentina, especially Patagonia, because it’s a lot like Montana. It’s good, big old, rugged country, big mountains, beautiful rivers, great fishing. It’s still rough country. And when you arrive in Buenos Aires, the first thing you notice when you get in a car and drive from the airport into the city is that it runs on natural gas.

You mean you can choose between gasoline or diesel and compressed natural gas?
There’s no choice. You can’t find a gasoline car in Buenos Aires. For that matter you can’t find a gas station within the city limits. You’ve got to get outside the city before you can even find any that sell gasoline or diesel because they all run on compressed natural gas.

Pretty impressive, isn’t it?
I’m telling you. Here’s a country that’s 20 years ahead of us and using compressed natural gas. You want to see what America should do? Get on a plane and fly to Buenos Aires.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED, CONDENSED, AND EDITED BY ERIC O’KEEFE

We fired up the T. Boone Express and headed on up to Bismarck, North Dakota to participate in Sen. Byron Dorgan’s (D-ND) annual Great Plains Energy Expo. Senator Dorgan is a very important man in this whole deal. He has been involved in alternative energy idea for a long time. And he’s a senior member of the Senate Energy Committee.

When we got into Bismarck, we found out that Sen. Dorgan was putting out a press release which had this headline:

DORGAN WILL INTRODUCE THE PICKENS ENERGY PLAN CALLING FOR BUILDING AN INTERSTATE TRANSMISSION GRID AND A LARGE EXPANSION OF WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY

That’s pretty big news in Pickens Plan world. When a member of the Majority Party in the Senate is a member of the committee that has jurisdiction introduces a bill which contains a lot of what you’ve been asking for … that’s pretty big news.

You can read the whole press release HERE

We did a press conference to begin things. Sen. Dorgan stood with me and answered questions about the whole deal.

He said that North Dakota is number one in wind energy and understands how important it is to build out a 21st century electricity grid to move power from the Great Plains to the East and West Coasts.

He compared the government helping to establish a national grid with Eisenhower calling for a national - interstate - highway system. Sen. Dorgan said there were people who didn’t understand why the system had to go through small towns in places like North Dakota, where not many people live.

“What they didn’t understand,” Sen. Dorgan said, “was that putting the interstate highway through North Dakota connected New York with Seattle.”

Same thing with a new grid system. It’s not to get the wind or solar energy between Sweetwater, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana. It’s to get energy from Sweetwater to Los Angeles, or Chicago, or Baltimore.

After that we did a roundtable with a group of business folks over lunch, and then headed into the big hall at the Bismarck Convention Center for what wasn’t an official Pickens Plan Town Hall, but looked and felt like a Pickens Plan Town Hall.

They told us there would be about 600 people at the Expo, but they set the hall up with about 1,200 chairs and they looked like they were pretty much all filled.

Having an ally like Sen. Byron Dorgan is very important to us. I appreciate him being a leader in the energy field and I really appreciate him introducing the Pickens Plan as part of his Energy Plan legislation in the United States Senate.

– Boone

(The Politico) T. Boone Pickens mused about the Presidency last night … as he offered his energy expertise to President-elect Barack Obama on CNN’s Larry King Live.

“I’d like to have had the job that Obama has now,” the 80-year-old Texas oil tycoon said, adding that he “would do anything for this country.”

Pickens, who had met with Obama on the campaign trail, has been pushing his own energy blueprint – to members of Congress and the public – to wean the country off foreign oil by using more wind to generate electricity and natural gas to power motor vehicles.

Pickens said he believes Obama is in synch with his “Pickens Plan.” And he said he still keeps in touch with former Vice President Al Gore, who’s promoting an extensive plan to stave off global warming.

“He wants to cut the carbon footprint. I say natural gas is the bridge to what Al wants to do,” Pickens said. “When Al and I have lunch, we agree on a lot of things.”

Boone went onto explain that, at 80-years-old he isn’t running for anything but if he were President-elect Obama’s age me might have been interested.

– The Pickens Team

Big news on the Pickens Plan front! Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has just been announced as the new White House chief of staff when President-elect Barack Obama is inauguarted next January 20.

Rep. Emanuel is a BIG supporter of moving to natural gas generally and the Pickens Plan in particular. He introduced Boone at a town hall event in Chicago in October. In an interview posted on the Pickens Plan website on Sept. 30, 2008, Rep. Emanuel said,

I agree with the Pickens Plan to fuel more cars with natural gas. To reduce our oil consumption, we need to give American drivers a choice of how they fuel their cars; natural gas vehicles can help provide that choice. And I believe that an energy policy aimed at curbing our addition to oil will allow us to create new jobs, curb global warming, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

This is the man who will have enormous influence not just over the White House staff, but over the direction that many of the Cabinet Departments take as well.

You can read the entire interview with Congressman Emanuel by clicking HERE .

– The Pickens Team

Ok. We’ve caught our breath and we’re ready to keep moving forward. Sen. Barack Obama is now President-elect Barack Obama and we need to let him know that we support his efforts to cut down our dependence on foreign oil.

I need you – and all of your family, friends and colleagues – to send a message to the President-elect about our commitment to the Pickens Plan.

And when I say “send a message” I mean a real e-mail message directly into President-elect Obama’s Senate office.

Here’s all you need to do: Click on the link HERE. You’ll see there is a short form to fill out and then on the next page there is an e-mail which will be sent to Mr. Obama’s Senate office.

While you’re on-line, take about a minute-and-a-half and make sure our next President knows we are supporting him and looking for support from him in reducing imports of foreign oil

– Boone