Texas billionaire and oil executive T. Boone Pickens speaks at a town hall meeting Thursday afternoon in McFarlin Auditorium about ending America’s dependence on foreign oil. The first 200 SMU students in attendance received autographed copies of “The First Billion is the Hardest” by Pickens. (Marissa Trevino)
Billionaire and Texas oilman, T. Boone Pickens introduced his energy plan to a full house of students, staff, faculty and the Dallas community at McFarlin Auditorium Tuesday. The Pickens Plan was launched on July 8, 2008. Pickens wants to lead Americans in the solution to decreasing our dependency on foreign oil.
Pickens, son of an oilman, was born and raised in Oklahoma. He is the founder of Mesa Petroleum (one of the largest independent oil companies in the U.S.), founder of Clean Energy, and chairs the hedge fund B P Capital Management.
Known for his uncanny ability to predict oil prices, Pickens is well respected among his peers and the public alike.
According to Pickens, 70 percent of our oil is imported each year, up from 20 percent in 1970, 52 percent in 1990 and 60 percent in 2000. He said 50 percent of today’s imports come from countries we aren’t even friendly with.
Pickens said we must stop our dependency on foreign oil in order to maintain our standard of living in the U.S. Cheap oil has been the cause of the problem.
He said that for the last 40 years we’ve had no plan. Since the introduction of his plan, no one else has come up with an alternative to the Pickens Plan.
His plan includes the use of solar and wind power, as well as natural gas. He said Americans are 4 percent of the world’s population, but we use 25 percent of the oil. Currently, 85 million barrels of oil are produced a day and Americans are using 21 million of those barrels per day. The U.S. produces only 3 percent of that oil.
The first step of his plan is to get 350,000 heavy-duty trucks to use natural gas. There will be a $65,000 incentive to encourage participation. The second step is to commit to renewables.
However, he told the audience not to rush out and buy cars that run on natural gas. His plan is for the heavy-duty trucks to start the movement and it will trickle down to the smaller vehicles at a lower cost. Right now, General Motors is producing 17 models of these vehicles in other countries and we’re behind the curve, according to Pickens.
Pickens believes if we don’t do something about this huge problem we will be paying $300 a barrel for oil in 10 years.
Audience members laughed when Pickens said he wanted the audience to get on board with him and “not leave it all up to an 80-year-old guy.” He said he has the money to sustain himself to the end of his line, but it’s up to everyone else to implement the plan.
“If we don’t solve this problem, we won’t have to worry about education and healthcare in the future. There won’t be any money for it,” he said.
Pickens is the author of the book “The First Billion is the Hardest” and he gave away 200 autographed copies to the attendees of his town hall meeting.
“I’m looking forward to reading his book,” said Allen Abney, an SMU graduate student. “I agree with him and hope the government gets on board with his plan,” he said.
Pickens’ discussion inspired other SMU students. For many, oil usage is an unfamiliar topic that Pickens was able to shed a little more light on.
“This is a topic students don’t really talk about,” said Tiffany Hoffman, an SMU business major. “It’s helpful and I plan to have a conversation with my dad.”
For more information about the Pickens Plan, visit pickensplan.com.
