T. Boone Pickens’s Mighty Wind

Boone Pickens is right on target. Wind. along with solar, nuclear, natural gas are all energy sources that need to be embraced in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We'll be hard pressed to find anyone with a better vision or more guts than Pickens.

thats bull we fix the cost on a lot of it anyway, look at the billions in money goes to air industry, road, farms, and tons of others. Mostly the money for wind would be like teaching a child how to walk. you just dont tell a baby to walk or talk, he has to be shown how just like many of the new industries that are now making billions. O ya Oil companies who are making hundrets of billions if not trillions ($1,000,000,000,000) still get big pay check from the goverment to do what drill oil because they couldn't survive without it. 'cough bull cough'. if they can get money why not wind?

if wind is truly viable economically, it will support itself in a free market. Tax payers should not cover the fixed costs of a business because the marginal cost of their product is "competitive," the infrastructure arguement is a joke.

check out - stoptboonpickens.com

If it is truly economically viable, it will support itself in a free market. Be wary of those who talk of building infrastructure, they are just looking for a handout.
check out - stoptboonepickens.com

A MORE SERIOUS REVERSAL OF FORTUNE AWAITS A FEW OIL TOTALITARIANS

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/08/down-side-for-some-petroleum-suppliers.html

The world has shrunk in the past twenty years, and new doors will open for democracy.

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We have a two-fold plan to end U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.This plan consists of a dual system: The Interim System, and The Permanent System. The Interim System will keep the country running at an estimated .99-$1.30 in fuel costs. This initial step will yield gasoline and diesel fuels for any residual use during the interim. The Permanent System will consist of a new motor which will enable the country to realize a 90% drop in fuel cost, while generating the same amount of power. For example, once this system is in place, a family of four will be able to travel from New York City to Los Angeles,California for approximately 15%. This plan will utilize 100% American resources. The concept fundamental to the plan totally excludes the use of batteries, solar and wind power, as well as geo-thermal sources. There will therefore be no depletion of corn crops; nor will hydrogen be employed. The central idea to this System is completely new and uniquely fitted to our current situation.

We have a two-fold plan to end U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.This plan consists of a dual system: The Interim System, and The Permanent System. The Interim System will keep the country running at an estimated .99-$1.30 in fuel costs. This initial step will yield gasoline and diesel fuels for any residual use during the interim. The Permanent System will consist of a new motor which will enable the country to realize a 90% drop in fuel cost, while generating the same amount of power. For example, once this system is in place, a family of four will be able to travel from New York City to Los Angeles,California for approximately 15%. This plan will utilize 100% American resources. The concept fundamental to the plan totally excludes the use of batteries, solar and wind power, as well as geo-thermal sources. There will therefore be no depletion of corn crops; nor will hydrogen be employed. The central idea to this System is completely new and uniquely fitted to our current situation.

So, you think T. Boone Pickens is just another tree hugger?
Meanwhile in the UK they have tested a system to produce power from ocean waves and found that they could power the entire UK with machines covering just a few square miles of the North Sea coast. And its been estimated that wind mills installed in "tornado alley" in the midwest USA could power all the needs of the USA. Why not convert our inexhaustable supplies of garbage and human waste to ethanol using biomass to ethanol conversion? There is a drifting waste field in the pacific ocean thats twice the size of Texas that could be converted to ethanol, or we could just ignore it.

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We should take a closer look at T-Boone Pickens and the company he keeps. This is not going to play in Peoria or Houston. These guys appear to be completely clueless. The Pickens wind generation scheme is a $1T Boone-Doggle! But that is not the half of it. Former Vice President Al Gore wants to completely scrap carbon fuel based electrical generation within 10 years. The US economy would not survive such a misstep.

This is an approximately $50T miscalculation for the US economy. Al Gore graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government June 12, 1969 in a ceremony where hundreds of Harvard seniors rose from their folding chairs, raised their fists in defiance, and walked out. This non-science major, or nonsense major, proposes to abandon a functional electrical power system in exchange for what?

Al Gore proposes the total elimination of Oil, Natural Gas, Coal and all other carbon based substances as electrical power plant fuels. This category even includes wood.

Full Transcript & Video of Al Gore Speech and one excerpt

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/the-annotated-gore-climate-speech/index.html?hp

http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/304/

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans ??? in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen.


Senator Obama responds:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/07/gore_issues_cha.html

I strongly agree with Vice President Gore that we ??? must fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind power and advanced biofuels, and those are the investments I will make as President.


Senator McCain's Campaign Response:

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/the-annotated-gore-climate-speech/

John McCain has been a leader in the fight against global climate change, working with Democrats on this issue since 2003, but no one has more successfully recruited Americans into this effort than Al Gore. This is a key issue, and John McCain has put solutions over partisanship to pursue meaningful, market-driven cap and trade legislation aimed at drastically reducing harmful carbon emissions.

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This TXU-Boone_Doggle sounds like the Pizza Hut commercial:
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4_Bucks, 4_Bucks, -- 1_Trillion_Bucks, -- 4_Bucks, 4_Bucks, 4_Bucks
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How much from a single mom?
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How much from a widow on a fixed income?
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How much FOR the T-Boone Gang?
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How much from Food Bank?
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How much from Industry?
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How much from the Church?
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4_Bucks, 4_Bucks, -- 1_Trillion_Bucks, -- 4_Bucks, 4_Bucks, 4_Bucks
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Where is T. Boone when I need someone to invest in gasolin-less cars?

M.J. Lone
m_lone@hotmail.com

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West Texas State Senators Robert Duncan and Kel Seliger recently wrote a joint editorial in the Austin American Statesman, titled:

Don't cut off the lifeblood of West Texas

They express concern about T. Boone Pickens scheme to suck all the precious ground water out of the Texas Panhandle.

This Boone-Doggle adversely affects Texas community life and rural property rights. Pickens formed the Roberts Water District, composed of 5 associates to obtain right-of-way for his water pipeline and electrical transmission lines. Subsidies and eminent domain are abused to pump massive quantities of ground water from the already endangered Ogallala Aquifer.

Pickens plans to sell 200,000 acre-feet FROM parched West Texas Staked Plains annually. His plan is opposed by water policy planners as economically infeasible. This extensive extraction will affect natural spring flows and the rural Texas Panhandle communities that depend on that water. It will also adversely affect family farming and sustainable development from Texas to South Dakota.
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The Electric Reliability Council of Texas - ERCOT- manages the Texas electric grid and the deregulated electric market. On the record and in response to formal government information requests:

http://www.ercot.com/news/press_releases/2007/ERCOT_Response_to_Rep._Barton

ERCOT has determined that 8.7% of the installed wind capability can be counted as dependable capacity during the peak demand period for the next year. Conventional generation must be available to provide the remaining capacity needed to meet forecast load and reserve requirements.


http://www.ercot.com/news/press_releases/2008/nr-5-16-08

For summer peak capacity, ERCOT counts 8.7 percent of wind nameplate capacity in accordance with ERCOT???s stakeholder-adopted methodology, based on a study of the effective load serving capability of wind.


Pickens proposes a $1T Boone-Doggle for 8.7 percent reliability.
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WHY will all Texas electrical power customers pay $4.00 per month? These grid transmission projects are in the Panhandle and North Texas areas. There is no conceivable electrical benefit to Texans living in El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Houston or Corpus Christi.

There are however clearly identifiable private beneficiaries in this Boone-Doggle. The financial gains will entirely accrue to a group of quasi-public, quasi-private players. TXU was purchased in a leveraged-buy out deal about October 2007 and became Energy Future Holdings. The cast of players reads like a political scam of gigantic proportions. Grab your wallet.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/26/news/companies/txu/index.htm

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/02/27/kkr_texas_pacific_set_record_with_45b_txu_buyout_accord/

http://thehill.com/business--lobby/lobbyists-hired-to-represent-investor-groups-in-45b-buyout-2007-03-27.html

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article1441887.ece

http://www.clean-coal.info/drupal/TXU_buyout_finalized

Every public heist requires a contingent of political fixers and rainmakers. This deal by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR). and Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Goldman Sachs follows that prescription. William Reilly, chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund and former EPA administrator, will join the company's board. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III will serve as advisory chairman to the investment group of new owners. GE is selling the windmills. Thomas Boone Pickens is building the windmill power generation farms and seizing the right-of-way. T-Bone-Picker plans to pump the Ogallala Aquifer of West Texas dry in the process.

Lobbyists include William Massey, a former FERC commissioner, Richard Meserve, a past NRC chairman, Bill Wichterman and Martin Gold, former top aides to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Donald L. Evans becomes non-executive chairman of Energy Future Holdings Corp. Evans previously served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce for four years under President George W. Bush. Bill Clinton???s former chief of staff, Mack McLarty, Stuart Eizenstat and David Marchick, once senior State Department officials for President Clinton, are the senior Democrats. Investors include GS Capital Partners, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. They profit and we pay.

Laudable job, Mr. Pickens!

According to the International Association of Natural Gas Vehciles (IANG), the use of Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) will facilitate energy security and diversity as it can be used either as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) or even blended with hydrogen.

Natural Gas can be used in all classes of vehicles - motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks, buses, lift trucks, locomotives, even ships and ferries.

David Friedman, research director in the vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says that Natural Gas???s role will figure heavily with ???medium-to heavy-duty vehicles and fleets-and as a stepping stone to hydrogen fuel-cell-powered vehicles in the future." Meanwhile, the Honda Civic GX is the only car available from the factory ready for CNG fuel; saving some lucky drivers an estimated $300 a month on fuel!

Laudable job, Mr. Pickens!

According to the International Association of Natural Gas Vehciles (IANG), the use of Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) will facilitate energy security and diversity as it can be used either as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) or even blended with hydrogen.

Natural Gas can be used in all classes of vehicles - motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks, buses, lift trucks, locomotives, even ships and ferries.

David Friedman, research director in the vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says that Natural Gas???s role will figure heavily with ???medium-to heavy-duty vehicles and fleets-and as a stepping stone to hydrogen fuel-cell-powered vehicles in the future." Meanwhile, the Honda Civic GX is the only car available from the factory ready for CNG fuel; saving some lucky drivers an estimated $300 a month on fuel!

T. Boone Pickens was for drilling everywhere; before he was against it.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/25564736 By CNBC | 08 Jul 2008 | 08:51 AM ET

Asked whether drilling for oil should be allowed everywhere, Pickens who is also CEO of BP Capital, told "Squawk Box"

I say yeah, let's go ahead and do it.


http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/

Sierra Club July 09, 2008 Carl Pope Executive Director Sierra Club

This Is One Emergency We Can't Drill Our Way Out Of

The Dallas Morning News recently ran a story on this subject dual headlined as:

Debate flares over wind power in Texas

There is such a thing as too much wind power.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa080707_ac_wind.30137b43.html

In February, wind in West Texas died unexpectedly, leaving ERCOT scrambling to get backup natural gas plants online to meet power demand. The scare prompted ERCOT to upgrade its wind forecasting system.

ERCOT pays some power plants to operate on standby, ready to begin producing power within minutes if needed. Accommodating the fickle wind means paying more plants to stand by, adding to the total cost of wholesale power. Older plants that can't fire up quickly aren't flexible enough to provide backup for wind.

Natural gas plants are the most expensive types of plants to operate these days because of the high price of fuel. Wholesale power prices can spike to 10 or 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, even higher, on a hot afternoon as more natural gas plants turn on.

The arguments against supporting too much wind are swaying PUC Chairman Barry Smitherman. Last month, he said he'd been leaning toward the scenario to build the largest amount of transmission, but after hearing arguments from various parties, he favors a more modest scenario.

One Boone Pickens objective is to reduce the $/BTU energy price differential between natural gas and oil. Wasting natural gas operating backup gas turbine generators for useless windmills is a poor method to achieve this goal. Adding $5 per month per Texas electrical utility customer to waste this natural gas is poor public policy.