T. Boone Pickens to Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee: National...

T. Boone Pickens to Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee: National Security Is Jeopardized by Crippling $700 Billion Dependence on Foreign Oil from Countries We Cannot Trust with our Future

Pickens Lays out Five "Pickens Principles" for Realistic Energy
Plans
WASHINGTON, D.C.--(Business Wire)--
Texas oilman, T. Boone Pickens testified today that the national
security of the United States is in its greatest jeopardy and peril
since World War II due to our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

His remarks came in testimony before the U.S. Senate Homeland
Security and Government Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator Joseph
Lieberman (ID-CT) and Ranking Member Senator Susan Collins (R-ME).
During his comments, Pickens also laid out five "Pickens Principles"
for evaluating and reviewing realistic energy plans.

Pickens stated:

"We are more fragile today, from a national security standpoint,
than we have been since World War II. This danger stems directly from
our overwhelming dependence on foreign oil, which has risen from 24
percent in 1970 to 70 percent today. What worries me, and what should
worry this committee and the American people, is that much of this
dependence is on oil that comes from countries that are not our
friends. And in some cases, this dependence on their oil has placed
the US in the position of paying for the tools these countries use to
embrace, export and manifest their ideology that would like to see us
fail as a democracy and as the leader of the free world. And further,
by spending this $700 billion year importing oil- more than four times
the cost of the Iraqi War -- we are strangling our economy and putting
ourselves and our nation in greater harm's way. All without our
enemies ever having to raise a hand in anger.

This is more than a disturbing trend line. It is a recipe for
national disaster. This is a crisis that cannot be left to the next
generation to solve and shame on all of us if we don't grab this bull
by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. And we must do it now.

I have been traveling all around the country with a simple message
- that our country is in a deep hole and it's time to stop digging. I
have a plan where we can do this in a way that actually improves our
economy and our way of life, and I have to tell you the response to
the plan has been tremendous."

Unveiled on July 8th, the Pickens Plan offers a vision to reduce
our dangerous dependence on foreign oil by more than one third within
the next decade, or $300 billion annually. It starts by harnessing our
abundant domestic renewable resources of wind and solar. The
Department of Energy estimates that we can produce 22 percent of our
country's electrical energy needs just by utilizing the wind resources
in the Great Plains alone. This wind generated electricity will allow
the natural gas currently being used to operate power plants around
the country to be redirected and used as a cleaner, more cost
effective fuel in our transportation system, reducing our dependence
on foreign oil by 38 percent. Pickens believes the infrastructure can
be built by private enterprise within the next 10 years.

Pickens stated:

"I believe this plan provides a significant bridge to the future
that gives us time to develop the next generation of alternative
fuels, including electric vehicle. It results in revitalizing much of
rural America with more than $1 trillion in private investment within
ten years instead of enriching other nations at our expense. It can
all be accomplished with private investment but needs government
support by clearing the way for action, which means help on providing
for transmission rights of way, the appropriate renewals of the
renewable energy tax credits, among other things."

Pickens Principles

Pickens laid out the five Pickens Principles that he believes need
to be used when determining the value of the many energy plans that
have been floated in recent weeks.

1. The plan has to slash our dependence on foreign oil by at least
30 percent in 10 years

2. The plan needs to rely on 100 percent American resources

3. The plan needs to utilize existing, proven and workable
alternatives to foreign oil

4. The plan needs to call on private enterprise to execute quickly

5. The plan requires the Federal government to clear the path for
implementation.

For more information on Pickens Plan, visit www.pickensplan.com.

Jay Rosser, 214-265-4165
Jay@bpcap.net
Melissa McKay, 212-446-1898
Melissa@pickensplan.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008