Billionaire pitches how to make U.S. less dependent on foreign oil
T. Boone Pickens on Tuesday laid out his "Pickens Plan" to reduce American dependence on foreign oil, with the target of cutting demand by more than a third in the next two years.The colorful Texas billionaire, a former corporate raider and oil man turned hedge-fund manager, said wind power and natural gas could take up the slack as a viable alternative to spending $700 billion a year for foreign oil.
Pickens is building a mammoth wind farm in Sweetwater, Texas, and also launched Clean Energy Fuels, a company that runs natural-gas filling stations for fleet vehicles.
Pickens also said he's lobbying to have the Texas-sized price tag for foreign oil become a central theme of the presidential election between Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz."Neither presidential candidate is talking about solving the oil problem," Pickens told USA Today. "So we're going to make 'em talk about it.">>>MORE
