This fall we will have elections not only for the President but for many state and local positions. Your state legislature has a lot to do with whether we develop our wind energy resources. I know in Kansas, their bent to develop coal plants this last session slowed down the development of wind. Wind turbine and blade manufacturing plants are going to other states like Texas, Colorado and Iowa. When voting to send someone to represent you in the state legislature, ask yourself these questions: Will that person vote for or against a true net metering legislation? Will that person vote for an agressive Renewable Energy Portfolio for utilities? Will that person vote to help the development of coal plants in your state? The answer to these questions will help you decide if the person you are voting for will vote the way you want if they get elected.

As mentioned in an earlier email by "charlie", I hope someone is keeping a list of National and State political leaders who are "supporters", "possible supporters" and "non-supporters". This will be a useful list in many ways. It should be posted somewhere on the Pickens Plan Site.

If the U.S. legislation is anything like the Michigan legislature, then I would agree with the poll showing that the majority of those surveyed feel that congress will block the plan. Michigan's legislation seems to want to hand all control to a single authority.. and limit or squash the Wind/Solar/CNG possibilities in this state. Change the FUEL of the Motor State! Michigan Town Hall Meeting!!! Lansing, MI Sept '08!!

I watch C-Span a lot when Congress is in session. I have my list of phone numbers in hand as well as my computer on my lap. I call and email these folks constantly as they are on the floor making speeches concerning energy issues. So, seeing the results of this poll (especially Congress causing it to fail) is not surprising. I hope that Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are paying attention to these numbers, but it would be more helpful if the people of California and Arizona are checking in and paying attention to their elected officials. In my opinion, so far, these two are failing as leaders.

I was not surprised when I learned that when asked about U.S. Congressional reaction to Pickens’ plan, two-thirds of Americans surveyed with an opinion, 65.7%, said Congress would help the plan fail by using laws and regulations to block it. Another 28.4% believed Congress would help the plan succeed by passing supportive legislation. According to Jerry Lindsley, director of the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute, “Expectations of Congress have never been lower.” The American people have felt this way about congress for a long time and anybody that has been paying attention knows in there bones that the congress of the United States has sold us out again and again. I am as committed to the Pickens Plan as anyone else but the real problem is the congress we have elected. Both parties’ lie they tell us different and do what they want. They keep democrats and republicans fighting while they serve there own special interest. Apparently 65.7% of my fellow citizens know this that’s good that’s real good.

Keep in mind this was COLLEGE STUDENTS. With age comes experience, with experience comes worry. Thus, with age people tend to worry a bit more. As a College student I can say, not only is this plan growing with popularity, but there isn't a piece of the plan that people don't understand. The clarity of this plan is going to lead to its success. BEST REGARDS AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS!

This is a great plan to start with, I think on top of the wind we could put up arces of solar panels in places like arizona and other not so windy areas to free up more coal to convert to liquid diesel and other fuels. That will require much more investment in coals to liquids fuels plants but that will keep all of our coal miners employed and on board with everyone else in solving this problem. On top of that liqufied coal fuels are much less polluting then burning straight coal and carbon capturing coal power plants are not very efficient.

I think there is an overwhelming great number of people out there who want to solve this problem- I thank each and every one of you for being part of it all! Check this out- pretty interesting interview with Harry Reid: http://meetthebloggers.org/show_072508.php I think whatever congress does is not going to stop the momentum that we're building now. It might slow it down or speed it up, but it won't stop it. The people know, and all 'revolutions' start from the grassroots- the people. We're in the midst of an energy revolution. Anything short of a police state cannot stop the people when the people truly want change. I love the idea of solar- not sure if large banks of them in the desert is truly viable (at this point in time) though. The same problem that we're having with the wind corridor exists in the southwest- lack of transmission lines. The other problem is that dollar per dollar wind generates 4 times as much electricity as solar- so it'd only be 25% as cost effective as what we're trying to do here with wind. Now that's not to say solar's a problem- the question is really 'how do we bring the cost (of solar) down?' No transmission lines would be a start and that we can do- but instead of large farms we'll need small solar systems installed on homes and buildings throughout the country. Individual investments is what's going to make that happen- and I realize most people don't have the cash for a photovoltaic system- YET. Photovoltaic cells only transfer approximately 15% of the energy that hits them into electricity. New technology is expected to make this number jump to around 75-85% in about ten years... this will dramatically bring the cost down. (according to Stiebel-Eltron of Germany, the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the world) I'm a bigger proponent of solar than wind, however I think the most affordable clean energy we have for us right now is wind. We're taking small steps and while I want it to change faster, it's ok- the journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. Solar will be a major player, but not just yet... it's coming. In the meantime- consider investing in things like solar hot water systems- solar/radiant floor heating systems as these use glycol solutions in their panels for heat transfer and are in the 85% efficiency range- pays for themselves in about 5-8 years. Also- consider a personal home wind turbine (600-2000 a piece)- in the process of putting one of those up you'll need the DC charge controllers and AC/DC inverters and either a netmetering junction box or a battery bank- all of which are also needed for solar photovoltaic systems- so when the new photovoltaic panels come out, you'll be all set to literally "plug and play." Also- do some research on passive solar design- this is way more cost effective than wind or photovoltaics can and will ever be. The future looks bright my friends- keep up the hard work- get everyone on board- and above all, keep your spirits up! -Blue Skies

Common Sense that isn't so common . . There was a time when this country had Presidents who acted decisively simply by utilizing executive orders and by doing what was best for this country regardless of world opinion. Presidents who created the world's greatest national highway system and another who had the Hoover Dam built - visionaries who, with the stroke of a pen, put people to work on projects that benefited every citizen. So what became of these leaders of the free world? Where is the President who will institute the construction of Mag-Lev trains, solar energy farms in the Nevada desert and geothermal power plants to lessen foreign oil's strangle hold on the American dream. Hydrogen fuel cells, which have been around for many years, to power our homes and automobiles. And a President who will end the Iraq war, bring our brave troops home and put that $16 billion monthly war cost back into developing and renewing our national infrastructure on projects that will employ Americans and allow them to, once again, make a decent wage. Finally, climate change is decreasing the amount of water available to support the California economy - is it too much to ask that politicians fill the reservoirs to capacity prior to sending the water rushing into the San Francisco bay? Idealistically all funding for program relative to weapons research should be immediately diverted to alternative energies of which we know can produce our national needs. We need to wise up and take advantage of the four most common world resources available to us everyday but go virtually unnoticed and taken for granted. Those would be the sun, geothermal, the wind and sea. We have the technology to move forward on these issues if we are willing, but as usual in our foolishness we do nothing with our resources and have become self defeating. It’s time to develop an infrastructure that’ll simply make our adversary’s commodity worthless. For those of you who haven’t a clue of what I’m referring to I’d like to invite you to watch a documentary produced by Modern Marvel’s entitled “Renewal Energy”. In reality there’s no excuse for not doing what you’re about to be educated on, except for politics, greed, poor leadership and continual acts of defiance by those who embrace control at the expense of not only the people of this great nation but of man-kind entirely. In my opinion there’s no excuse for such stupidity, period. The question is, will you take the time to insist on these changes or just sit there and hope someone else does it for you. I am tired of hearing the excuses or watching the fuel cost drop to divert people from a functioanl goal making them believe fueal will go back to .29 cents a gallon and all will be well if we just keep drilling off shore. This is not resolve our fuel cost but taking action as stated above will allow us to be free from the death grip the q-tips have on us now.

Good statement NVRP.

I'm going to write T. Boone in for President. Clean energy independence could not be a more important issue.