Boone Pickens likes to make money - and he sure likes giving it away. That’s one of the many takeaways readers get from an interview given by Pickens just days before his 85th birthday that was published in Monday’s Tulsa World.

Pickens says he has donated almost as much as he’s now worth, including $525 million to Oklahoma State University athletics and academics. He says he plans on giving away more money to nonprofit causes he supports, including OSU, medical research and groups that help veterans.

As members of the Pickens Plan Army well know, Pickens puts considerable emphasis on leadership and the need for a plan. Thanks to both of those elements, Oklahoma State has seen a surge in support.

OSU President Burns Hargis said Pickens’ record-setting donations to OSU athletics and academics had a multiplier impact. The university recently announced it had reached its $1 billion “Branding Success” fundraising campaign goal early.

“We’ve attracted over 80,000 new donors to our campaign,” Hargis said. “We’ve created thousands of scholarships, about 130 endowed chairs and professorships. … It’s just a different place, and it’s a different place because of Boone Pickens.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Senate Bill 519 (SB 519), authored by Senator Rob Standridge and Representative David Derby, makes critical updates to Oklahoma’s motor fuel tax law to create an environment that promotes natural gas vehicle (NGV) adoption and investment in refueling infrastructure.

Unfortunately Oklahoma currently taxes domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) almost twice as much as foreign diesel. Furthermore, LNG trucks are required to purchase an annual fuel tax decal in lieu of a tax at the pump. This unnecessary system forces a station attendant to verify that the LNG vehicle has a decal before the driver can refuel. As you can imagine, this is a very inefficient process that diesel is not burdened with.

Oklahoma’s policy of favoring a primarily foreign fuel over cleaner domestic natural gas must be ended.

Click here to email your state legislators today and ask them to support SB519.

The oil import numbers are in for April. As usual, the news is anything but good. As of last month, the average price has settled in comfortably above a floor of $100 per barrel.

According to figures just released, $102.25 was the average price per barrel of oil imported to the U.S. Meanwhile, the cost of a barrel produced here in the U.S. was almost $10 less per barrel.

Overall, there was a slight uptick in overall imports in April with 299 million barrels imported. This total amounted to 54% of the overall U.S. supply.

That works out to a little more than $1 billion a day or an astounding $708,564.10 per minute that left the U.S. economy and went overseas.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Paris of the Plains is about to go from one natural-gas filling station to many.

For years, Kansas Gas Service has operated the only place in the area where the public could fill up a vehicle powered by compressed natural gas and take advantage of a fuel that burns cleaner and is cheaper than gasoline or diesel. But plenty of activity is stirring in what has been a backwater of the energy business. Not only has the Kansas Gas Service outlet in Overland Park been improved to fill more vehicles faster, the chances of having more filling stations in the area are brightening.

And with gas prices hovering just under $4.00 a gallon, the timing of this influx of natural-gas filling stations couldn’t be better.

“I think we’re on the verge of having a real infrastructure for the public and fleets,” said Kelly Gilbert, the director of transportation for the Metropolitan Energy Center, a Kansas City-based nonprofit group that promotes energy efficiency.

Read more HERE.

My father told me that a fool with a plan can outsmart a genius with no plan any day. I live by those words, and they are why we have been able to accomplish as much as we have with the Pickens Plan.

Come to find out two writers named Fraser Seitel (Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Emerald Partners, a strategic communications counseling firm) and John Doorley (academic director for the New York University graduate program in Public Relations and Communications) have taken note of you, of me, and the nearly 2 million other members of the Pickens Plan Army. Have a look at this YouTube clip discussing what we’ve been able to accomplish together. We’re featured in their new book, Rethinking Reputation.

Those who want to read more about the implementation of the Pickens Plan can find the chapter in the book, available by clicking here.

Great Job!

The following op-ed by T. Boone Pickens ran in the Omaha World-Herald on Wednesday, May 1, 2013.

We’ll soon learn the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline that has caused such concern in Nebraska and in the environmental community. If we kill Keystone, we will truly go down as the dumbest generation ever.

One of the major drivers in the decision on Keystone is the U.S. Department of State, which leads to the question: Who is responsible for developing an energy plan? The president? Congress? The Secretary of State? The Department of Energy?

Until we figure that out, we won’t have a workable plan. And, as my father liked to tell me, “Son, a fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan any day.”

Right now, when it comes to America and our effort to achieve greater energy security, we’re a foolish nation without a plan.

If it were up to me, America’s energy plan would have these key elements:

First, transportation. Transportation accounts for 70 percent of our oil use, and we need to replace OPEC oil/diesel with domestic natural gas in the heavy-duty truck and fleet sector. Our domestic natural gas reserves continue to expand, thanks to the domestic oil and gas industry’s success with horizontal drilling and fracking.

Too many people believe the amount of oil we import from OPEC could be dramatically reduced if we would just build and operate more farms for solar power and wind power. Oil is a very small player in the production of electricity. Electricity in the United States is largely produced using coal, nuclear, hydro and, increasingly, natural gas.

As to our heavy-duty vehicles — 18-wheelers, trash and refuse trucks, municipal buses and the like — there are more than 8.5 million of those and not a single one can be pushed using batteries. Even ethanol will not produce enough energy to fuel an over-the-road truck. There are only two available fuels: imported diesel or domestic natural gas.

Natural gas is cheaper than diesel, it is cleaner and, because natural gas lines run through almost every city and town in the country, it is readily available almost everywhere.

About 50 percent of the oil we import is refined into diesel fuel, so it is a big target. Most over-the-road trucks run the same routes on a regular schedule, so the need for a refueling facility on every street corner, as we have for passenger cars, isn’t an issue.

America can and does build natural gas refueling stations along major Interstate highway routes without the need for government funds. Major manufacturers are now building truck and bus engines that will run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and, as that ramps up, prices will drop.

Next, let’s audit all the state and federal regulatory policies that impede the growth of domestic transportation fuels. Let’s use Nebraska as an example.

Nebraska is among a number of states that do not tax LNG properly. Alternative fuels contain different amounts of energy per gallon than gasoline and diesel. Therefore, a gasoline or diesel-gallon-equivalent tax based on energy, not volume, makes more sense. In Nebraska, LNG is taxed almost twice as much as diesel. This problem needs to be fixed immediately so truckers can utilize clean, domestic natural gas to transport goods.

Finally, we need to quit burying our heads in the sand. Energy is not “free market.” OPEC is a cartel. More than 70 percent of the oil in the world is controlled by state-owned oil companies.

Despite the stunning increases in domestic oil and natural gas production, gasoline prices for consumers have barely budged. That’s because the Saudis control oil prices with their production, and they need $100 per barrel to meet their social commitments.

Let’s inject serious fuel competition into the mix. Free marketers will tell you they don’t want government picking winners and losers. By doing nothing, we’re choosing OPEC oil.

I’m for picking a winner — our domestic transportation fuel alternatives. In heavy-duty fleet applications, that’s natural gas.

All we are missing is a plan. And leadership. And accountability.

Read more HERE.

Great on stage conversation with Dr. Karen Bonnell, Professor of Communications and Interim Director, Communication Program University of Southern Indiana, during my recent visit to Evansville.

The New York Times headlined a major story this week with “Natural Gas Becomes Fuel for the Long Haul.” In the article, written by reporters Diane Cardwell and Clifford Krause, points out that the “momentum of natural gas for transportation is accelerating” with United Parcel Service preparing to announce it will move 800 of its 18-wheelers from diesel to natural gas by “2014 up from 112 now.”

The article said Cummins, a major manufacturer, is building the engines which will run on Liquified Natural Gas.

“The move,” the article said, “could also cut the country’s oil import bill. Right now, about eight million heavy and medium-weight trucks consume three million barrels of oil a day while traveling the nation’s highways. That is nearly 15 percent of the total national daily consumption and the equivalent of three-fourths of the amount of oil imported from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Roughly two-thirds of the diesel used as transportation fuel nationwide feeds three million 18-wheelers, the main trucks hauling goods over long distances.”

Cardwell and Kause reminded their readers that building out the refueling infrastructure for natural gas vehicles is just beginning. They wrote:

“As of May 2012, only 53 L.N.G. fueling stations were in the United States, more than two-thirds concentrated in California, along with 1,047 compressed natural gas stations around the country, according to the Energy Department. In comparison, there were 157,000 fueling stations selling gasoline.”

Getting America’s 8.5 million heavy-duty trucks running on domestic natural gas rather than imported diesel has been a cornerstone of the Pickens Plan since 2008.

“If the New York Times has come around to recognize the value of getting on our own resources,” said T. Boone Pickens, “even the United States Congress might understand the value of helping reduce our dependence on OPEC oil.”

To read the entire article, click HERE

– The Pickens Team

The following article was written by Diane Cardwell and Clifford Krauss and was published by The New York Times on April 22, 2013.

The natural gas boom has already upended the American power industry, displacing coal and bringing consumers cheaper electricity.

Now the trucking industry, with its millions of 18-wheelers moving products like potato chips, underarm deodorant and copy paper around the country, is taking a leap forward in switching from petroleum to cleaner-burning natural gas. And if natural gas remains cheap, consumers may benefit again.

This month, Cummins, a leading engine manufacturer, began shipping big, new engines that make long runs on natural gas possible. A skeletal network of refueling stations at dozens of truck stops stands ready. Major shippers like Procter& Gamble, mindful of both fuel costs and green credentials, are turning to companies with natural gas trucks in their fleets.

And in the latest sign of how the momentum for natural gas in transportation is accelerating, United Parcel Service plans to announce in the next few days that it will expand its fleet of heavy 18-wheel vehicles running on liquefied natural gas, or L.N.G., to 800 by the end of 2014, from 112. The vehicles will use the new Cummins engines, produced under a joint venture with Westport Innovations.

U.P.S., like the rest of the industry, still has a long way to go in the conversion, but the company hopes to make natural gas vehicles a majority of its new heavy truck acquisitions in two years. The company is benefiting from incentives provided by various states and the federal government, which offer tax credits and grants for installing natural gas fuel stations and using vehicles fueled by natural gas.

“By us doing this it will help pave the way and others will follow,” said Scott Wicker, chief sustainability officer at U.P.S. “Moving into L.N.G. is a means to get us onto what we see as the bridging fuel of the future and off of oil. It’s the right step for us, for our customers and for our planet.”

The move could also cut the country’s oil import bill. Right now, about eight million heavy and medium-weight trucks consume three million barrels of oil a day while traveling the nation’s highways. That is nearly 15 percent of the total national daily consumption and the equivalent of three-fourths of the amount of oil imported from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Roughly two-thirds of the diesel used as transportation fuel nationwide feeds three million 18-wheelers, the main trucks hauling goods over long distances.

In the last four years, the natural gas shale drilling boom has produced a glut of inexpensive fuel, leading producers to argue that the country should wean its commercial and municipal transportation systems from a dependence on imported oil to domestically produced natural gas. It is cheaper, saving truckers as much as $1.50 a gallon, and it burns cleaner, making it easier to meet emissions standards. The domestic fuel also provides some insulation from the volatile geopolitics that can drive up petroleum prices.

Still, manufacturers and fleet owners have been slow to switch, partly because natural gas vehicles can cost almost twice as much as conventional trucks and because only a few gasoline stations have the specialized equipment needed to dispense the fuel.

Now, as name-brand manufacturers and chains like Nike and Walmart have pressed for transportation of their goods by natural gas vehicles and companies like U.P.S., FedEx and Ryder System have started exploring the option, truck makers have begun bringing natural gas vehicles to the market. Major manufacturers, including Navistar and Volvo, have plans to offer long-haul natural gas vehicles.

Clean Energy Fuels — a company backed by the financier T. Boone Pickens and Chesapeake Energy — has peppered major routes with 70 stations, many at truck stops operated by Pilot Flying J. Clean Energy has plans to complete 30 to 50 more by the end of the year. Shell has an agreement to build refueling stations at as many as 100 TravelCenters of America and Petro Stopping Centers while ENN, a privately held Chinese company, hopes to build 500 filling stations as well.

That emerging network “really has changed the interplay between the shippers and the contracted carriers,” said Andrew J. Littlefair, Clean Energy’s chief executive. “The whole deal’s beginning to change.”

Though the network is growing rapidly, it has a long way to go. As of May 2012, only 53 L.N.G. fueling stations were in the United States, more than two-thirds concentrated in California, along with 1,047 compressed natural gas stations around the country, according to the Energy Department. In comparison, there were 157,000 fueling stations selling gasoline.

Vehicle use of natural gas in the United States is still negligible but it has been growing. Among fleets whose vehicles travel shorter routes, like transit buses, refuse haulers and delivery trucks, use of compressed natural gas is much further along. Last year, more than half of newly purchased garbage trucks ran on compressed natural gas.

The federal Energy Information Administration last year projected that if enough L.N.G. filling stations were built and economic conditions were right, sales of heavy-duty natural gas vehicles could increase to 275,000 in 2035, equivalent to 34 percent of new vehicle sales, from 860 in 2010. But estimates vary. Citigroup recently forecast that 30 percent of the heavy truck fleet would shift to natural gas by the end of the decade, but some in the transportation industry put that figure much lower.

L.N.G. trucking is slowly gaining traction internationally as well — especially in Canada and Europe — although conversion in the United States, where gas is relatively inexpensive, is expected to be faster. Trucking industry experts project that 5 percent of the European heavy trucking fleet could run on natural gas by 2015, rising to as much as 15 percent by 2020.

“Natural gas will be a part of that play in commercial vehicles, but our view is, it’s not going to replace diesel,” said Roe C. East, general manager of the natural gas business at Cummins. He added that natural gas could capture as much as 10 percent of the heavy-duty truck market in North America in the next five years.

One obstacle is cost. There are some tax incentives, and the Obama administration funneled stimulus money to various projects. ENN, the Chinese company, for instance, has teamed up with a small company now operating as Blu in Utah that used federal stimulus money to help open a natural gas fueling station in Salt Lake City in 2011.

But industry executives say that the incentives are not enough to get the system going and solve what Bill Logue, chief executive of the FedEx Freight Corporation, called the “chicken-and-egg dilemma” of which comes first, the trucks or the stations.

“We believe that public policy supporting the development of natural gas infrastructure is critical and should be prioritized,” he said in an e-mail message. “Individual drivers and private companies cannot realistically be expected to resolve the dilemma themselves.”

Another issue arises alongside the very appeal of the fuel: its low price. Because natural gas is now in demand to meet so many different energy needs — including industrial electricity and home heating — prices could rise, as they have in recent months, especially if the Obama administration begins approving the fuel for export to countries where gas commands a much higher price, as some producers and lawmakers are pressing the Energy Department to do.

As U.P.S. executives explain it, the economics for the switch to natural gas are complex. Prices for L.N.G. and diesel fuel vary around the country, so the company matches its L.N.G. trucks with states where it can get the lowest-cost gas on long-term contracts and the most generous grants. The rule of thumb, according to U.P.S., is that truck operators save 30 to 40 percent per mile driven on gas over diesel. A big part of the equation is a 50-cent-per-gallon tax credit the federal government offers to companies that use L.N.G., but that is scheduled to expire at the end of the year. (There are also federal taxes that work against gas use, including a 12.5 percent federal excise tax on new heavy trucks that is more onerous on L.N.G. vehicles because they are far more expensive.)

“The economics are getting better and better to where it’s less of a leap of faith than it used to be,” said Kurt Kuehn, chief financial officer of U.P.S., although there is still risk because the upfront cost is so high. It still takes seven or eight years for the savings from replacing diesel with the cheaper fuel to cover that cost, he said. For many companies, that may prove too long to wait.

But Clean Energy executives say that the margin between the fuel prices is so wide that the time for recouping the investment is shortening — perhaps to as little as one to three years. Mr. Pickens, a Clean Energy board member who has been an advocate for switching the national trucking fleet to natural gas, said that even if the price of natural gas rose by roughly 50 percent, to $6 per thousand cubic feet, truck fleets would most likely still save money.

“Natural gas will always be less than diesel,” he said, “because the price of oil is set globally by OPEC and they have to have a price high enough to keep their social commitments and stay in power.”

Mr. Pickens predicted that a majority of the nation’s long-haul truck fleet would be fueled by natural gas in seven years because 70 percent of the 18-wheelers operate in defined regional areas, and a natural gas truck can drive 600 miles on a single fill-up. “I promise you it will all fit together and the stations will be there,” he said.

Read more HERE.

Despite impressive gains in domestic oil production, the U.S. is on track to spend roughly $400 billion on imported oil in 2013, which is roughly the same amount that was spent last year. In 2012, the U.S. imported a total of 3.9 billion barrels of petroleum at a cost of $434 billion.

That’s one of the many conclusions that can be gleaned from recently released oil import numbers. Here are some more.

In March 2013, a whopping 296 million barrels - or 52 percent of the petroleum consumed in the U.S. - was foreign oil. At a per barrel price of more than $108, that works out to over $32 billion - more than $1 billion a day - or per minute cost of $719,000.

And in January 2013, total imports were even higher: 304 million barrels. Not surprisingly, a hefty percentage of that imported oil came from OPEC countries: 39 percent. The bottom line is that Americans spent $13.5 billion on OPEC oil in January.

Read more HERE.

The following commentary by T. Boone Pickens and Senator George D. Maziarz ran in The Times Union on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. A link to that article follows below.

These days, just mention the term “natural gas” and it immediately generates controversy in New York. If New Yorkers don’t want the economic benefits of shale gas, that’s up to them, but it is a shame not to take advantage of this important natural resource to create upstate jobs and promote cleaner air.

Lost and confused in all the heated debate on drilling for shale gas is that New York is on the cusp of missing the tremendous economic and environmental benefits of using a safe, reliable and inexpensive form of natural gas — liquefied natural gas in transportation.

Across the country, long haul trucks and other fleet vehicles are saving fuel costs and reducing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions by switching from engines that burn dirty, imported diesel to those that run on cleaner, domestic LNG.

To facilitate this transition, the private sector is stepping forward to build the infrastructure for a nationwide network of LNG refueling stations along major interstate trucking routes. This network will allow America’s truckers and fleet operators to convert their vehicles to a cleaner and less expensive fuel, thereby reducing the cost of goods movement while improving air quality.

Unfortunately, while progress is being made across the country, there is one big gap on the map.

Today, an outdated law has made New York the only state in America that bans the use of LNG. A 1973 fire at an LNG facility in Staten Island led to the imposition of the state ban that remains in effect 30 years later.

Since that time, LNG technology has advanced significantly, and independent studies, including a 1998 report commissioned by the state, have concluded that the earlier fire was actually not linked to LNG at all.

A lack of understanding and just plain old inertia has led to a statewide ban remaining in place.

The net effect is not only bad news for truckers and consumers; it also deprives major upstate New York manufacturers of an affordable energy source to power their factories, putting into question their future ability to compete. Finally, the World Health Organization has classified diesel emissions as carcinogens, which means the ban is even worse news for the many — especially those who are economically disadvantaged and are located near congestion points for heavy truck traffic.

New York has long been a leader in protecting the environment with forward-looking energy policies. Over a decade ago the MTA and the state embarked on a groundbreaking program to improve air quality by replacing diesel buses with compressed natural gas vehicles.

That program, implemented with the broad bipartisan support of policy makers, industry and environmental advocates, has been a tremendous success.

Today, we are building that same coalition to support lifting the LNG ban outside the confines of New York City.

Lifting the ban makes sense: LNG is less expensive than diesel fuel; it is safe, actually less flammable than the propane tank that fuels your gas grill; in the wake of Superstorm Sandy it contributes to the state’s policy of realizing fuel diversity and Cummins-Westport, a thriving upstate manufacturer, makes the cutting edge LNG engines that will be deployed in trucks, meaning jobs and investment. Finally, LNG engines produce 20 to 23 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than their diesel counterparts.

For all these reasons, we support legislation, which was overwhelmingly passed in the Senate last week, to lift the ban on LNG in all of the areas of the Empire State outside of the city of New York.

Read more HERE.

T. Boone Pickens is chairman and CEO of BP Capital and architect of the Pickens Plan, an energy plan for America. State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, is chairman of the Energy & Telecommunications Committee.

The list of countries smart enough to make the best use of natural gas as a transportation fuel continues to expand. According to Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVA), natural gas powers more than 15 million cars and trucks around the globe. Countries with abundant natural gas resources - Iran, Pakistan, India, Brazil, and China - lead the list with millions of natural-gas vehicles a piece.

The glaring exception to this rule is the country with the world’s greatest natural gas reserves - the U.S. According to the NGVA, America ranks a disappointing 17th on this list behind a whole host of countries with puny reserves.

In an article published on Thursday, April 11, The New York Times notes that another country - Russia - is now seizing the opportunity afforded by this cleaner-burning fuel. Like the U.S., Russia has enormous gas reserves. Unlike the U.S., Russian consumers are shunning hybrid vehicles and jumping straight to natural-gas powered vehicles, as this example demonstrates:

“Igor A. Samarsky of the southern Russian city of Krasnodar gets fuel economy on his 1998 Lada sedan that would make a Prius owner green with environmental envy. For all of 120 rubles — about $3.80, or a little more than a gallon of regular unleaded fuel in the United States — he can drive 140 miles. The Toyota hybrid would need three gallons of gas to drive that distance.”

The reason, according to The Times, is the same one that applies in the U.S.

Economically, it’s no contest at the pump compared with gasoline because natural gas, whose main component is methane, is so abundant and cheap in Russia. It costs about $2 a gallon less than gasoline.

Makes you wonder when the country with the world’s most substantial natural-gas reserves will wake up and get on its own resources, doesn’t it?

Read the entire story in The Times HERE.

The following article by T. Boone Pickens ran at Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday, April 11, 2013.

It starts with getting into the transportation sector. When I started the Pickens Plan in 2008, there were about 200,000 vehicles on natural gas in the world; now there’s about 16 million. That growth’s coming from everywhere but the U.S. Places like Iran and Argentina. China’s already got 40,000 trucks on LNG [liquefied natural gas], and they import the stuff. And here we are in the U.S., with more natural gas than any other country in the world, and we aren’t doing a thing about it. It’s just amazing to me that Washington doesn’t see this opportunity and try to capitalize on it.

The best thing to do is focus on heavy-duty trucks and give them a tax credit. It could work like a toll road, what you call a pay-for system. If you use it, you pay for it. So you give these guys a break upfront to convert to natural gas trucks, and then you tax the natural gas.

You don’t put natural gas in your corner gasoline station. You put natural gas in a truckstop. It’s a fuel that competes against diesel. There are about 8 million heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. If you convert them to natural gas, that boosts consumption by about 15 billion to 20 billion cubic feet a day. Right now we do about 70 billion cubic feet a day. So that extra demand would immediately boost the price and get drills moving again. Today natural gas is about $2.79 a gallon, compared with about $4.79 for diesel. That’s a huge advantage. But here’s the thing: If you take natural gas from about $4 (per thousand cubic feet) to $6, you only increase it by about 28¢ a gallon. So it’s cleaner by 30 percent and still cheaper by almost a half.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. has already begun to implement a massive shift away from using oil as a transportation fuel and, instead, rely more and more on domestically produced natural gas.

To support this claim, Russell Gold at the Journal cited a recently released report prepared by commodity specialists at Citibank titled “Global Oil Demand Growth – The End is Nigh.”

“The shift from oil to gas is already underway in the US, where the shale gas revolution is giving a large economic incentive to make the switch. As the US shift gains pace, politics, greater natural gas availability and environmental concerns are facilitating the trend into the global market.”

Read more HERE (subscription required).

The following op-ed by T. Boone Pickens ran in the Evansville Courier-Press on Saturday, March 30, 2013.

Few states have a bigger stake in the potential transition from imported diesel to domestic natural gas than Indiana. Given the amount of over-the-road truck traffic that passes through the state, a reduction in pollution and costs for truckers will be a significant economic and social benefit for all Hoosiers.

Hydraulic fracturing, in what is known as the New Albany Shale Gas Play, is creating real, permanent jobs.

Everyone talks about a free market in energy. It’s as if we are wearing blinders on both the state and federal level. We keep listening to free market zealots to guide our energy policies when, in fact, there is no free market in energy. All we need do is look at OPEC.

The cost of OPEC oil is astronomical in its impact on national security, the state and national economy and the environment.

OPEC is a cartel that controls the global price of oil by manipulating the amount available.

Since October, Saudi Arabia has sharply cut production to keep prices up. In essence, the $4 per gallon you are paying for gasoline at the corner station is helping fund the Saudis’ domestic programs.

The OPEC nations are just the largest part of the equation. Seventy percent of the world’s oil supply is controlled by state-owned entities. Here in the United States constantly changing laws, rules, tax policy, and regulations — new CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards are the latest example — are just as manipulative.

If we want to break the back of the OPEC cartel, there are two free market-focused approaches that make sense.

First, we need to inject serious fuel competition into the transportation fuel mix. Transportation in America accounts for two-thirds of all oil use. There are many options, but to me, the one that makes the most sense is natural gas as a fuel substitute for OPEC oil/diesel/gasoline, with a focus on the heavy duty and fleet markets.

We are now a nation awash in natural gas, so much so there’s a push to allow the export of America’s natural gas to Asia, Europe and elsewhere where it sells for up to four times as much.

While I fully support the producers’ right to sell into higher price markets, I think it shortchanges America’s energy future. Why rebuild another country’s economy on the back of our cheap energy? Wouldn’t we be better served by rebuilding our own with our own natural gas?

Secondly, there is a lot of talk about renewables — wind and solar in particular — but those are power generation fuels. While some can argue that power from wind and solar ends up in the power grid — and, ultimately, in electric vehicles — a battery won’t move an 18-wheeler.

But there’s another free market-focused approach that works, and that’s to get government out of the way.

We should conduct an audit of the antiquated state and federal tax policies that impede the alternative fuel market growth. Here’s an example: In about a dozen states, including Indiana, a visual inspection of a tax decal is necessary before a truck can refuel with liquefied natural gas.

Imagine if an attendant had to come out and record the number on your inspection sticker every time you went to the gas station. Makes “pay at the pump” a useless bit of technology.

Two members of the Indiana State Legislature are working to change that with HB 1324 which will make changes in the natural gas fuel decal program to make it more efficient to fuel LNG vehicles and will change the tax code so truckers pay their fair share based on the energy content of the fuel — making LNG competitive with diesel or gasoline.

It’s all about leadership to me, and on energy we’ve been sorely lacking. We need an energy plan. A fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan.

Right now, we’re fools without a plan. Here are some elements I’d think about incorporating into one.

First, let’s quit being the world’s oil police. Let other countries — and their increasing thirst for oil — protect the Straits of Hormuz.

Second, let’s rethink the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It was a good idea when we didn’t know how much energy we had — or how to get at it. But now we are sitting on an ocean of oil — about 700 million barrels — purchased at an average cost of $28 per barrel in a world in which oil is selling for above $90 per barrel. We can release half of it over a 10-year span so it doesn’t upset domestic oil production, but takes control of our oil prices out of the hands of OPEC.

Third, we should move toward a North American Energy Alliance to include Mexico and Canada. They are our two largest oil trading partners.

This would help Mexico increase the recovery of its reserves. Canada’s oil can be moved into the North American market by developing a pipeline to get it to the large refineries in the U.S. South, providing funds for Canada’s growing infrastructure needs.

We can do this if we get buy-in from all the players: The president, Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy, the State Department, and every governor.

Together we can make the energy markets free — and liberate ourselves from OPEC oil.

Read the post HERE.