Pickens predicts energy bill this year
The billionaire continues to push his natural gas-based plan

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One of President Barack Obama's promises on the campaign trail two years ago was to develop an energy policy that would wean Americans from foreign oil within a decade.

Nothing has happened since then, says T. Boone Pickens, but he is still taking the president at his word.

"He's two years on the job and not done one thing to fulfill that commitment," Pickens said during a talk Wednesday at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa.

But the oilman also predicted, "We're going to have an energy bill this year."

According to his Pickens Plan, using U.S.-produced natural gas as a replacement for petroleum-based diesel fuel in the key to reducing oil imports.

"This is not a multiple-choice question," he said. "We have only one source."

Pickens was speaking at the Helmerich Research Center on the OSU-Tulsa campus as part of a re-election fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, the Oklahoma Republican who is a sponsor of a bill that includes incentives for researching, building and buying natural gas-powered vehicles.

The U.S. currently imports close to 11 million barrels of oil per day, 40 percent of that coming from nations that the State Department advises Americans to avoid. Pickens says that converting
heavy-duty fleet vehicles to natural gas from diesel could eliminate the 5 million BPD bought from OPEC members.

"I don't consider those to be friendly to us," he said.

Pickens indicated he believes his plan will get support from Obama and Congress. The gas bills could pass as early as this summer, he and Sullivan told the gathering.

"It'll happen," Pickens said.

U.S. shale plays, such as the Marcellus, Barnett and Woodford shales, have pushed domestic natural gas reserves past 4,000 billion cubic feet with no end in sight, according to reports.

The price of natural gas, currently just over $4 per thousand cubic feet, also is part of its attraction. One Mcf can move a truck the same distance as 7 gallons of diesel.

"Cleaner and cheaper replaces dirtier and foreign," Pickens quipped.

The Holdenville native, oil billionaire and investor has spent the past two years touting the national security benefits of natural gas. Pickens joked that he started this crusade "back when I was rich" and doggedly believes those efforts will pay off.

"We're going to have an energy bill this year," he predicted. "If we don't do this, this generation — you and me — will go down as the dumbest crowd around."

The Gulf of Mexico rig explosion and oil leak could impact offshore drilling for years to come, but Pickens said the best answers will come not from government regulators but from the companies facing the disaster up close.

"Leave the BP people alone," he said. "They're the best people to fix the problem."

He noted that offshore drilling has suffered only two major blowout-related spills in the past few decades, one of them off the California coast. Pickens said the long-term solution in the Gulf of Mexico is likely a relief well, which could take several months to complete

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