T. Boone Pickens: Wind Can Wait

Now that prices for oil and natural gas have dropped — oil is at a 20-month low — wind can wait, Pickens said yesterday at a meeting of utility and investment officials.

Nonetheless, the Pickens Plan to ultimately use wind power and natural-gas vehicles and other alternative energy sources is still viable to reduce foreign oil imports in the long run, he says.

Pickens plans to profit either way, but the Arizona Republic reports that he spoke yesterday out of patriotism: "I'd rather be playing golf at the Del Mar Country Club this afternoon," Pickens said. "But I truly believe this is good for the country."

The basis of the Pickens Plan: "World oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to find and there just isn't enough of it to keep up with demand." And: "Studies from around the world show that the Great Plains States are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world."

Pickens says, "Developing wind power is an investment in rural America."

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