Action Speaks Louder Than Words

As the diddy goes, uncle Jed was simply hunting for food, when he discovered something much more interesting, "Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea." Ever since that fateful day, we have become increasingly more dependent on the stuff, so much so, that we need to import about 70% of what we consume. T. Boone Pickins has nothing in common with uncle Jed, except his wealth and connections to the oil industry, and energy trading.

Mr. Pickins is in his 80's and doesn't appear to be slowing down. His current company is purchasing land and building a wind farm that will be the largest in the world when completed: generating over 4 Gigawatts of electricity; enough for 1.3 million homes! Why is he doing this? Money, you say? Perhaps, but he has about $4 Billion already, so he's not exactly, strapped for cash. Believe it or not, Mr. Pickins appears to be genuinely concerned about the future of this country. While he could just sit back and count his money, in his (truly) golden years, he's chosen to rally a grass roots "army," as he calls it, to create a national wave of concerned citizens. The purpose: get the next President, and Congress to do something, really do something. He even makes it easy for them, he has a rational, realistic plan.

This isn't one of those crush-every-car-and-ride-a-bicycle plans. Simply put, he proposes that we shift the fuels we use for electricity generation and transportation. This involves natural gas and wind-generated electricity. In the US today, we create electricity from several kinds of fuel. Of that, 22% of electricity is made by burning natural gas. Picken's plan would have us replace that 22% with electricity created by wind generators. It happens, that the center section of the USA is one of the top places in the world for wind conditions conducive for steady, consistent wind power. It's even been called "The Saudi Arabia of Wind Energy."

As the natural gas is freed from generating electricity, it can be used to power vehicles. This is not a new technology, but there are few cars that run on, an places that sell natural gas in the USA. There would have to be some effort and money spent to get the infrastructure built up, and the vehicles manufactured. But the effort would be worth it; in places where it is available today, natural gas for vehicles is priced at about $1/gallon. The Pickens Plan requries the "army" of grass roots folks from across the country, to band together, and insist that the next President, and Congress get off their cushioned chairs, stop talking, and DO! Implemet this plan or a variation, before any other law is passed. It could mean a 30% reduction of oil imports, $300 billion that stays in the US, and create thousands of real, meaningful jobs. Oh, did I mention tax revenues ?

The plan is not perfect, but it is much more viable and immediate than any other proposal out there, from anywhere! It makes sense. It is not partisan, political, or damaging to the environment. There isn't any conflict with religion, class, race, or education. I encourage you to take a look at the sidebar link "An Interesting Idea" and see for yourself.

I applaud Mr Pickins for not retiring from society, but instead becoming a general, and commanding an energy army of concerned, tired, frustrated, cynical, slightly frightened, and hard-working citizens. This could be the answer. It won't solve our long-term energy needs, but it can bridge the gap, giving time for other forms of energy to mature. Who knows, perhaps we won't even use oil for fuel in 50 years!

Price of Gas

Everyone is aware that gas prices are very high, and rising. There is a lot of angst about the impact of oil-related products on our entire society. Look around and practically everything we use is either directly or indirectly linked to a petroleum product. Gas for our cars; asphalt for the roads those cars roll on. Diesel fuel for shipping; shipping for EVERYTHING we use. Many homes, especially on the East Coast, are heated by fuel oil. Our military forces use jet fuel and diesel for nearly every tank, truck, airplane, and ship they operate. Plastics are everywhere in our life; yep, petroleum based!

On the other hand, there is a growing cacophony of voices, a din of ominous predictions shouting about Global Over-Warming of the earth due to, you guessed it, burning carbon-rich petroleum products. The culprits include the internal combustion engine, in its various forms. These voices warn us that we are killing the earth, and ourselves—that we must use electric cars, change all of our light bulbs, and stop consuming anything that creates carbon dioxide! This could get out of hand, and fast!

You do realize, every breath we exhale introduces CO2 into the atmosphere. With this panic mentality, I won’t be surprised when some well-meaning-but-insanely-irrational politician out there proposes a ‘exhale’ tax. It will never happen, you say? This country has done some interesting things, in the name of national security.

History has shown the “ready-fire-aim” approach to solving problems generally introduces additional, unanticipated negative consequences. If the prognostications of the Global Over-Warming crowd are true, we’re doomed; its too late, almost.

I do agree that we should be better stewards of our natural resources. We should not waste things. We need to be more aware of the simple, easy things we can do to conserve these resources. To consume, simply because we can, is not responsible. Let’s discuss the impacts of our efforts on the climate. But, let’s also admit that we don’t really have a very good understanding of the Earth’s ecosystem. Like mom used to say, just because all of your friends are doing it, doesn’t make it right, or okay for you to do!