Rob:  We are in the closing weeks of a very long political campaign season; but the campaign we are going to talk about today transcends the usual politics.  Amid all the candidate's commercials, there is a push this fall to lessen our country's dependence on foreign oil; this from a long time oil man who's made billions in the energy sector.  We caught up with T. Boone Pickens as he was promoting what he calls The Pickens Plan.
T. Boone Pickens:  Did you know America uses twenty-five percent of the world's oil but only has three percent of the world's oil reserves?
Hannah Wright:  Oil is the past; wind is the future, a statement that outlines famous oilman T. Boone Pickens' plan for America to kick our dependence on foreign oil.  Speaking to a group of reporters, promoting his new book, "The First Billion is the Hardest," Pickens said in 1970, America imported twenty-four percent of oil supplies.  Today, it's nearly seventy percent and growing.  And at a cost of 700 billion dollars per year, it's something he believes we can no longer afford.
T. Boone:  "You've got to have a plan. For the last forty years we've had no plan."
Hannah:  That's why Pickens is spending fifty-eight million dollars of his own money to promote a plan he believes will reduce America's dependence on foreign oil by one third...and all within ten years.
Currently America gets its electrical power from three major sources: fifty percent coal, twenty percent nuclear, and twenty-two percent natural gas. The first step in Pickens' Plan is to produce enough wind energy to replace the natural gas. Natural gas that Pickens then wants to use for transportation and trucking. Lessening our dependence on foreign oil.
Iran Commercial:  "Get this one. Iran is changing its cars to run on natural gas. And we're not doing a thing here. They're doing this to use less oil and sell it for 120 dollars a barrel."

T. Boone:  "There are eight million vehicles in the world today that are on natural gas. There are only 142,000 in the U.S. and we have more gas than anybody else does. Why aren't our cars on natural gas? Well, the major oil companies didn't want it and the chemical companies didn't want it and they have a strong lobby and they worked hard to see that it didn't happen."

Hannah:  An attitude that could be changing.   Gasoline isn't cheap anymore...and probably never will be.  In this country...seventy-five percent of Americans own cars. In China...it's only four percent. But, it's four percent and growing.   An increased global demand putting pressure on an already limited supplies.  So, rather than increasing our dependence on foreign oil, Pickens has turned his attention to the skies.
T. Boone:  "Wind is fabulous from the standpoint that we have a corridor of wind that goes from Texas to Canada and here we are with those and why haven't they been developed? Because gasoline was cheap."

Hannah:  And Pickens is putting his money where his mouth is. He's already spent two billion dollars to purchase turbines for his wind project in Pampa, TX, a project that will eventually produce 4,000 megawatts of energy.  That's enough energy to power almost one million homes per year.
T. Boone:  "We will generate probably 2,000 to 2,500 jobs in that project. That's a lot. And you'll be left with half of them as employees to maintain everything when the construction people move out."

Hannah:  Pickens says his plan will revitalize much of rural America.  And with presidential elections just weeks away, the Pickens Plan is getting support where it counts...from both sides of party lines.

T. Boone:  "I've met with both Senator Obama and Senator McCain. They were both good meetings. Both were real interested, very respectful of me and felt like I know a lot about energy wanted to know what I had to tell them. So I did, I told them a lot and they had a lot of questions."

Hannah:  And while no stranger to the politics of Washington, Pickens believes if real change in our energy plan is to happen it will take more than just money, it will need the support of Americans ready for change.

T. Boone:  "If I get a million people signed up with me I've got something I've never had before.  I've got power now.  A million people is a hell of a lot better than trying to get something done being a millionaire."

Hannah:   Help from the same people Pickens says will reap the long-term benefits of his plan.

T. Boone:  "But, you know, you're going to revitalize rural America. You're going to revitalize the auto making industry in America. It's a win, win, win every place you go. There are no losers, only one loser and that's foreign oil. And I want to make them a big loser."

Hannah:  That from a man who may have made a billion dollars in the oil business, but is betting America's next energy boom is blowing in the wind.
Rob:  With an estimated worth of just over three billion dollars, Pickens has personally funded his push for energy independence, but the Wall Street crisis is costing him.  The Wall Street Journal reports Pickens' hedge funds are down by about one billion dollars for the year.