Texas Oil Billionaire T. Boone Pickens has come up with a really bad energy plan. I have to wonder if Pickens has had too many of his little gray cells die lately. Pickens is big on wind, something his oil business competition has known for a long time. Pickens is now investing in government subsidies. Excuse me, did i say that. I'm so sorry. It must have been a slip pf my fingers on the keyboard. Pickens is investing in wind farms through which he expects to receive billions of dollars in government subsidies. See there, I made it all better.
Pickens has an energy ideas that is as substantial as a tumbleweed in a West Texas Wind. Pickens idea is to replace the use of natural gas in electrical generation with wind generated electricity. The natural gas could then be diverted to powering cars. Natural gas could thus replace foreign oil in our energy economy. Well what is wrong with Pickens plan?
First, how much natural gas would we really save by building massive wind generating facilities? The answer is not very much. Natural gas is used in electrical generation primarily to produce peak electricity. My readers will perhaps recall, that I have pointed out at least 100 times, that there is an inverse relationship between Texas winds, and peak electrical demands. Thus the more Texas consumers want electricity, the less the wind will blow. Peak electricity is mainly generated in Texas by burning natural gas. How much natural gas will Pickens windmills' save? Very little. Pickens does not know this? Pickens does not have any advisors who have looked wind's pathetically poor peak demand performance? Don't any of Pickens retainers have any analytic skills at all? What do the guys who are suppose to provide the smarts of the Pickens organization do all day long? Drink and play cards?
Secondly, Pickens gets all the problems wrong. We don't just need to replace imported oil, we need to replace all fossil fuels. Even if we had no reason to worry about global warming, which we do, there are plenty of reasons to not depend long term of fossil fuels. And Pickens is not going to sell Congress on his take on Global Warming. He might put it over on his Facebook "friends," but not on Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.
It seems that while Pickens failed to provide money in his plan budget to hire first rate energy thinkers, He has budgeted a lot of money for a slick advertising campaign. There is a Facebook page devoted to Pickens and his plan. You can see T; Boone talking about his plan on YouTube. The Pickens Plan has its own internet social network. Llke the River Platt of Nebraska, Pickens appears to be an inch deep, and a mile wide at the mouth.
Needless to say, Pickens has not provided us with "a judicious determination of the facts." Pickens is taking a post modern approach. As long as you have a good story, and get it before the public, facts don't matter.
So what Is Pickens up too? Well Pickens would make a killing with his scheme. First he would be assured a long term government subsidy for his wind investment, and then he would turn right around and ask the government for a big fat oilman's welfare check, when he drills for natural gas. Is T. Boone really that cynical? Would a guy who is already worth three billion dollars come up with such an absurd plan. Did Pickens watch The Honeymooners in his youth, and now thinks he is channeling Ralph Kramden?