Well, it answers one question I had when I first read about Boone Pickens's proposal to use natural gas as a substitute for petroleum and wind power as a substitute for gas: where'll all that gas come from?
The United States imports about 65 percent of its oil, costing the country about $700 billion a year, Mr. Pickens says. By comparison, most of its natural gas comes from North American sources.
Most is a loose word, not terribly specific, although generally assumed to mean more than half, maybe even much more than half.
Now, Boone is something of a slippery character: Mr. Pickens once gave millions to a group that undermined U.S. Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War service and offered $1 million to anyone who could prove that the Swift Boat group's charges against the presidential candidate were false. Now he's stopped donating to such groups as he preaches a clean-energy gospel that's won over Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Now he's seen the light, and won't do the Swift Boat thing?
"I can be most effective as a nonpartisan, and I think the Democrats know me to be an honorable person," Mr. Pickens said Friday, adding that he's talked to Al Gore and the two agreed on "95 percent of what we talked about."
Wonder what that 5% is; intriguing: Boone agrees with Al Gore on 95% of things? Dang. Still, though, Boone Pickens is a business man, and his latest venture is wind energy.
His ideas align perfectly with his business ventures, which appears to make Democrats enthusiastic – not cynical – about his pitch. "If Pickens can show it's very profitable, that's a very important point," said Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. "That will help steer investors toward those kinds of investments."
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