This week, T. Boone’s new book, The First Billion is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America’s Energy Future, is hitting store shelves. In it, T. Boone chronicles his many ups and downs over the years, and charts his vision for energy in the future.

You can learn more about the book, including ordering information, by clicking here. The best part: All proceeds from the book will be donated to two worthy charities — the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and The Fisher House, which offers help and support to military families.

Yesterday, T. Boone sat down for a quick interview with CNN at the Republican National Convention. Here’s the video.

T. Boone’s not slowing down.

On Thursday, September 11, he’ll be holding a town hall event at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Doors are at 4 pm.

As always, the event is free and open to the public, so if you live in area come on by.

T. Boone Pickens has been doing media interviews all day in St. Paul. On MSNBC, Nora O’Donnell asked him about the Republican pick for Vice President, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, and whether Boone knew about her energy policy. He said she knows a lot about energy because of the importance of oil to the Alaskan economy.

He then reminded Nora that he is not opposed to additional drilling, but that it cannot be the answer to our long-term energy needs. He said (as those of us in the Army are well aware) that we need a strategy to bridge the gap between using oil for cars, trucks and buses today; and new technology fuels tomorrow.

Gov. Palin will accept the nomination for VP tonight and we expect that the energy issue will be at least some part of her speech. Other speakers who may well look at energy are Michael Williams of the Railroad Commission of Texas, which–in spite of its name–oversees, according to its website, “the Texas oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and the surface mining of coal.”

The next T. Boone Town Hall has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 10 at the Albuquerque Convention Center Ballroom in Albuquerque, NM.

Doors open at 9:30 a.m. T. Boone takes the stage at 10:30 am. And like all our town halls, the event is free and open to the public.

There’s an extensive profile of T. Boone Pickens, titled “There Will Be Boone,” in the September issue of the Texas Monthly. Click here to read it.

The Republican National Convention will resume its schedule tonight, we have been told. Because of hurricane Gustav, what was to have been the opening session Monday night was cancelled.

Some speeches were dropped, others have been rescheduled. We expect President Bush to address the convention from the White House and–given the nature of the threat to energy supplies which Gustav caused–we expect the President will talk, in part, about the need for energy independence.

The other major speakers tonight–former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)–are expected to recount Sen. McCain’s life story.

Wednesday night will be the principal “issue” speeches, including one specifically on energy, which will be delivered by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX).

We’ll keep close tabs on the speech tonight, so look for updates as warranted!

The think tank Frontiers of Freedom has made public its endorsement of the Pickens Plan. The group’s President George Landrith writes:

“America needs a broad-based energy plan. For the past 30 years, we have primarily relied on foreign oil for our energy needs. We must expand and diversify our energy portfolio. The Pickens Plan is an important part of a broad based energy plan. We need to drill and produce more of our own American energy. We should be drilling in the outer continental shelf and in ANWR — now. We also need to develop our natural gas resources. We need to develop wind and solar technology. We need to use nuclear technology and we need to use coal. We need to create an environment in which research and development efforts explode and bring new energy technologies to the marketplace. The Pickens Plan correctly highlights that we need to stop merely repeating the short-sighted mistakes of the last 30 years and begin implementing innovative, but proven technologies that work both practically and economically – while at the same time we develop the next generation of energy technology.”

In response to this recent article by Holman Jenkins, the Wall Street Journal printed the below letter from T. Boone.

This Is My Plan for American Energy, What’s Yours?

I read Holman Jenkins’s “Boone Doggle” (Business World, Aug. 6) about my energy plan and I’m convinced that he hasn’t even read my plan. So for the benefit of Mr. Jenkins and his readers, I’ll go over it again.

There are two numbers everybody should keep in mind. The first is 70% — that’s how much of our oil comes from foreign nations.

The second is $700 billion — that’s how much of our money is sent overseas to pay for that oil every year.

Mr. Jenkins argues that this isn’t technically a “transfer of wealth.” You can call it whatever you want, but common sense would call it a crisis. It’s hitting every part of the economy, and it’s only going to get worse because we consume 25% of the world’s oil, but we only have 3% of the oil reserves. For years we paid foreign nations to send us their oil and didn’t worry about it because it was cheap. But now it’s not and it matters a great deal.

We’ve had warnings before. Some of us remember the oil embargo of 1973. Back then we were importing less than 30% of our oil but it was still a crisis. And what did we learn? Today we’re importing nearly 70%. We all have — and I emphasize all — allowed our nation’s energy future to rest in the hands of foreign interests. And if we need to know how dangerous it is to rely on other countries for our energy, just look at what’s happening in Georgia. Yes, we buy some oil from our friends, but we also buy from some who aren’t so friendly.

We have to develop domestic energy alternatives and set ourselves on the road to self-sufficiency. Ultimately, that will mean using domestic renewable energy to generate electricity and power our vehicles. Unfortunately, clean, renewable fuels for transportation aren’t ready yet. So here’s my plan to break the foreign stranglehold.

It starts with wind. A Department of Energy study says we can generate 20% of our electricity from wind. I believe that with private investment and proven technology, we can generate 20% of our electricity from wind within 10 years — which happens to be the same amount we currently generate using America’s natural gas. Moving to wind power will allow us to conserve domestic natural gas for transportation. It’s cheaper, it’s cleaner, the technology is ready now and it’s abundant — America only has 20 billion barrels of oil and we’re trying to drill for a few billion more, but we already have the natural gas equivalent of 110 billion barrels in proven reserves and 170 billion more that are being accessed through new technology.

But most importantly, natural gas buys us one thing money can’t buy — time — the time to develop the renewable fuels that will finally end foreign oil’s stranglehold on the U.S.

That’s my plan — to harness domestic resources to reduce the impact of foreign oil and buy us time to perfect the next generation of clean renewables, allowing us to invest more of that $700 billion a year in our own destiny. I don’t expect everyone to agree with it, but I think it’s a good one.

My father used to tell me that a fool with a plan is better than a genius with no plan. So I ask, what’s Mr. Jenkins’s plan?

T. Boone Pickens
Dallas

In response to the Pickens Plan, the group CNG Now has launched a website promoting the use of compressed natural gas in vehicles. They’ve also started running their own commercials:

(Thanks to the blog The Real Sporer for the heads-up.)

Due to Hurricane Gustav, next Friday’s T. Boone Town Hall has been postponed. We’ll let you know as soon as it’s been re-scheduled.

T. Boone was interviewed by Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) and Helen Smith (Dr. Helen) for The Glenn and Helen Show. Download the podcast.

In his acceptance speech last night, Senator Barack Obama spent a considerable amount of time talking about his energy policy–a policy which included much of the Pickens Plan.

Obama stated, “In ten years we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.”
He added, “As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves… and I’ll invest $150 billion over the next ten years in renewable sources of energy.” One of those renewable energy sources is wind energy.

As the Sweetwater story makes clear, the Pickens Plan provides jobs. And as Sen. Obama said last night, the $150 billion investment “will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.”

The Pickens Plan is on the move. Now it’s on to Minneapolis. Let’s see what the Republicans have to offer!