NEWSPAPER/PRINT
LOCAL UPDATE: Mayor Brown’s ‘Pickens Pledge’ – Grand Forks Herald – 12/18/08

Business Books: Reading to Brighten the Holiday Mood – Reuters – 12/18/08

EDITORIAL/OPINION
Demand in US tails Off – The Times (UK) – 12/18/08

INTERNET AND BLOGS
Pickens Investors Pull 65% From Hedge Fund – Fin Alternatives – 12/18/08

Thinking Big Is Getting Big – The Huffington Post – 12/18/08

United States Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas is the latest member of the U.S. Senate to sign the Pledge for Energy Independence.

She joins 58 Members of the United States House and Senate, more than a dozen Governors, 200-plus Members of State Legislators, and over 170 Mayors who have joined with T. Boone Pickens and his 1.4 million-person Pickens New Energy Army in urging “President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress to enact an energy plan that reduces our foreign oil dependence by at least 30 percent within ten years.”

Senator Hutchison is the Ranking Member (Senior Republican) on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. A major principal of the Pickens Plan is to design programs and policies which will make it easy for current over-the-road trucks and fleet vehicles which use gasoline and diesel as fuels to be replaced by vehicles which use natural gas.

Boone said, “Senator Hutchison is in an excellent position to help carry our message to the entire U.S. Senate. As a Texan, she understands energy and as a 15-year veteran of the Senate she understands how to keep important issues on the front burner.”

– The Pickens Team

NEWSPAPER/PRINT
Isakson Signs Pickens Pledge – The Daily Citizen – 12/17/08

Pickens’s BP Capital Says Equity Fund Withdrawal Rate at 65% - Bloomberg – 12/17/08

Perfect Water World - Waurika News-Democrat – 12/17/08

EDITORIAL/OPINION
David New: Buy American; it’s Good for Your Pocketbook, Society, the Earth – Idaho Statesman – 12/17/08

Good Energy? – Free Times – 12/16/08

INTERNET AND BLOGS
Obama named TIME’s 2008 Person of the Year – MSNBC – 12/17/08

Bill Clinton And T.Boone Pickens Announce New Plans To Greenify Buildings – Ecorazzi – 12/17/08

Oil and Gas Industry Leaders Place Their Bets on Renewable Energy – Red, Green and Blue – 12/16/08

Looming Financial Catastrophe: A Real Inconvenient Truth – Op Ed News – 12/17/08

Hey, Army! Get this!

If we ever needed a lesson in why we need to cut down on our dependence on foreign oil our “friends” over at OPEC gave it to us today. They have announced they are going to cut oil production by some 2.2 million barrels per day.

They are doing that so that the price will rise from where it is now, about $45 per barrel, to about $75 per barrel.

This is in line with what I predicted would happen last week. OPEC’s decision will likely lead to an increase in oil and gasoline prices in America and proves the point that we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This is further evidence that OPEC’s interests are not aligned with ours.

You can’t fault them for trying to maximize the value of a commodity they have, but you have to fault us as a nation if we don’t move fast in the next Administration to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and the threat it poses to our national security and economy.

We have the domestic resources in wind, solar and natural gas to get the job done on energy and transportation, so let’s use them.”

This business of getting together to set prices is illegal in the United States but we don’t have jurisdiction over other sovereign nations. What we DO have is control over is how much foreign oil we use.

We need to take today’s statement by OPEC and use that as our rallying point to show the current leaders in Washington and - more important, the new Administration and Congress - that the Pickens Plan is the only plan which will reduce foreign oil by up to 50 percent over the next ten years.

The Congress needs to move immediately to give trucking companies and fleet owners incentives to replace gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles with natural gas.

We need to provide a long-term production tax credit (PTC) to build out wind farms in the Great Plains and solar farms in the Southwest. We need to be aggressive about retro-fitting homes and buildings with additional insulation and employ other energy-saving strategies.

We can’t allow OPEC - Saudi Arabia and Iran, Venezuela and Lybia and the others - to artificially determine what we will pay for oil. If we reduce our need for foreign oil, we can dictate terms to them, not the other way around.

The Pickens Plan is the answer. The time is now.

– Boone

RADIO/TV
Texas Tycoon T. Boone Pickens in Toledo – WTVG – 12/15/08

NEWSPAPER/PRINT
Pickens in Toledo for Owens Corning Signing – Toledo Free Press – 12/15/08

Pickens, Owens Corning Push Energy Teamwork – Toledo Blade – 12/16/08

Pickens Talks Energy Independence in Ohio – Associated Press – 12/16/08

Obama Makes Appointments to Energy, Environment Posts – Oil & Gas Journal – 12/16/08

INTERNET/BLOGS
Pickens Plan Calls for Energy-Efficient Homes – Washington Energy Services – 12/15/08

Nine Minnesota Mayors Ask Congress to Enact Energy Independence Plan Within Obama’s First 100 Days – Hometown Source – 12/16/08

Pickens Lauds Obama’s Energy Team – National Post Blog – 12/15/08

Obama Names Energy and Environment Leaders – Greentech Media – 12/15/08

Five Riskiest Assumptions for 2009 – Seeking Alpha – 12/16/08

Time’s ‘Person of the Year’…Vote for Your Favorite – Examiner.com – 12/15/08

The Pickens Plan is moving ahead. Last week we teamed up with the American Lung Association.

This week we got a great partner when the Owen Corning company came on board.

We hitched up the T. Boone Express and took a ride to Toledo, Ohio where they are headquartered.

You know Owens Corning; they’re the guys who do insulation and have the Pink Panther as their mascot.

We were both pretty happy about the deal!

Owens Corning is helping us expand the Pickens Plan from our focus on energy production into the area of energy conservation. According to the CEO of Owens Corning, Mike Thaman, adding insulation to existing homes and buildings can save millions of dollars a year in imported oil - especially in the Northeast - and in natural gas in homes heated by gas or electricity.

Either way, that translates into less foreign oil and I’m for less foreign oil.
Mike Thaman invited me to do a town hall with the staff at the Toledo headquarters. But listen to this: They hooked up the video deal to 78 U.S. locations, five in Europe and two in Asia.

This is what the scene looked like from the control booth.

The important thing is that with the American Lung Association and Owens Corning this deal is gathering steam.

Barack Obama announced his energy and environmental team yesterday. Dr. Seven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics, will be Energy Secretary. Carole Browner will be the person in the White House who oversees energy and the environment which tells me that Dr. Chu will run the labs but the policy will come out of the White House.

That’s a good thing for us. You remember I met with Carole Browner a week or so ago when she was heading up the Energy Transition Team.

A good day for the Pickens Plan, army. We’re marching forward!

– Boone

NEWSPAPER/PRINT

Pickens: Obama Administration a Boost to Energy Plan – Atlanta Business Chronicle – 12/12/08

Tycoon Pickens to Talk about Energy Plan at Owens Corning – Toledo Blade – 12/13/08

Pickens Touts Gas Proposal – Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 12/14/08

Pickens’ Lone Star Shines – Forbes – 12/14/08

Energy Unit Looms Large in Assessing GE’s Outlook – Wall Street Journal – 12/14/08

North America: Clean Technology – Ah Yes, That Other Crisis – Ethical Corporation – 12/15/08

Clean Energy Activist T. Boone Pickens to Highlight 2009 Mackinac Conference – Oakland Business Review – 12/15/08
EDITORIAL/OPINION

Letter: Pickens Plan is Bridge to the Future – The Advocate – 12/15/08

The Vent – Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 12/13/08

INTERNET AND BLOGS

Enviro Economics: Despite All Their Promise, Green Companies are Awash in Red Ink – Newsweek.com – 12/12/08

Falling Oil Prices Taking Its Toll in More Than One Way – Middle East North Africa Financial Network – 12/12/08

Clinton, Pickens Push Energy Efficiency – NY Times Blog- Green Inc. – 12/15/08

Is There An Option More Promising Than The Plug-In Electric Vehicle? – Huffington Post – 12/15/08

Daily Sprout – Earth2Tech – 12/15/08

Santa Claus is Driving to Town. Gas is Cheap – Bizmology – 12/15/08

What’s Working: The Year’s Best TV – TV Barn – 12/15/08

After we finished up with the State Legislators I spent a few minutes with the U.S. Senator from Georgia, Johnny Isakson. We talked about the energy deal, the bailout deal, and some of the other issues the 111th Congress will be facing starting on January 6th when the new Congress opens.

Then, Sen. Isakson signed the pledge. Didn’t hem and haw. Didn’t say he would take it back a look it over. He took a pen and signed it.

My kind of U.S. Senator.

After that we drove over to the Borders Bookstore and signed some books “The First Billion is the Hardest.” But, of course, before you can get a book signed you have to listen to the lecture about the Pickens Plan.

We had a pretty good crowd for a nice Saturday afternoon in suburban Atlanta. I was glad to chat with the folks and sign their books for Christmas presents.

I know I’ve told you this before, but none of the proceeds from the book go to me. They all go to the Brooke Army Medical Center - which cares for wounded soldiers and to the Fisher House which allows families to live close to where their loved ones are being tended to.

So, if your trying to decide what to give some folks, go and buy a handful of “The First Billion…” It’s a really good book and the proceeds go to some really good causes.

– Boone

No college football this weekend, so we hitched up the T. Boone Express and headed over to Atlanta for a meeting with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

There was an article in the Los Angeles Times about the California Air Resources Board voting unanimously for a measure to “retrofit or replace older heavy-duty trucks starting in 2011.”

You know I have been talking about how important it is to move 18-wheelers off diesel. I want it done because such a huge percentage of that diesel fuel is imported. California wants to move 18-wheelers off diesel because of the air quality concerns.

Either way, same answer: Move 18-wheelers off diesel onto something else. What is the only fuel that will fit that bill? Natural gas.

You knew that already.

Seventy percent of all the oil used in America is transportation fuel. Thirty percent of all the oil used in America is used by those heavy-duty trucks to move goods, haul garbage, deliver building materials, and so forth.

Other states are going to start to do something about diesel after they see what California has done.

These State Legislators can take another step to move us off foreign oil. They can require that any new state vehicles - trucks, cars, pick-ups, whatever, have to run on natural gas. Most of those vehicles go back to their “barn” every night so, having a large infrastructure cost to refuel isn’t really a problem. They can all pull up to the pumps at the state garage and fill the CNG tanks.

One of them asked me what State Legislators can do.  I didn’t ask them to pass any legislation.  They’ll come to that by themselves.

I told them to get informed and communicate with their Members of Congress and Senators and make sure that they understand what the situation is and what can be done to fix it.

I asked the Legislators how many had heard of the Pickens Plan and almost every hand went up. We’ve told them about the problem. Now, we have to help them find a solution.

– Boone

NEWSPAPER/PRINT
American Lung Association Backs Pickens Energy Plan – KC Tribune – 12/12/08

Billionaire Pushes Phoenix to Seek Alternatives to Oil – The Arizona Republic – 12/12/08

EDITORIAL/OPINION
Editorial: Pretend Gas Prices are $4 a Gallon – Grand Junction Free Press – 12/12/08

BLOG
An Advice Club for the Super Rich – Tech Flash – 12/12/08

DOLLAR DOLLAR DOLLAR ­– Motley Fool – 12/12/08

T. Boone Pickens spoke to a sold-out breakfast in Phoenix this morning sponsored by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. Boone delivered the message about the Pickens Plan with an emphasis on trucking and solar power, according to the Phoenix Business Journal coverage.

On trucking, the BizJournal reported Boone pointed out that the “Phoenix-based Swift Transportation Co. Inc., could switch its fleet to natural gas in a matter of a few years by converting or buying new about 7,000 trucks a year. At similar turnover rates, the country could convert about 1 million trucks to natural gas in the next several years.”

Boone also talked about solar energy - you know that he has often coupled the “solar corridor” which runs from western Texas to California, with the “wind corridor” which runs from northern Texas to the Canadian border.

The BizJournal said Boone “added solar power to the discussion, saying the Western states could do with solar what he’s proposing for a central wind corridor.”

For a look at the entire article in the Phoenix Business Journal click HERE.

– The Pickens Team

The New Energy Army is closing in on one and a half million members.   We want to end the year strong by doing a big push to increase our numbers on Facebook and Twitter.

To help encourage new sign ups, we’ll be giving away four signed copies of Boone’s book, The First Billion is the Hardest, to friends of the Pickens Plan on Facebook and Twitter. Winners will be chosen at random on December 23rd.

To be eligible, simply follow the Pickens Plan on Twitter and/or become a fan of the Pickens Plan on Facebook by December 19th noon on December 23rd. Become friends on both networks to double your chances of winning a signed book.

Update: We extended the deadline until noon on December 23rd due to a delay in sending out an email announcing the contest.