Depending on who you ask, T. Boone Pickens is either a visionary advocate of a clean, sustainable energy future, or a billionaire out to increase his wealth by peddling a self-serving Pickens Plan to the nation.
Unveiled on July 8, 2008 by the 80-year-old Pickens, the Pickens Plan is a detailed solution for ending the United States’ growing dependence on foreign oil. Earlier this year, when oil prices reached $140 per barrel. America was spending about $700 billion for foreign oil, equaling the greatest transfer of wealth in human history.
That figure has decreased some while oil prices have retreated, but the U.S. is still dependent on foreign nations for nearly 70 percent of its oil, represent6ing a continuing economic and national security threat.
The Pickens Plan calls for investing in power generation from domestic renewable resources such as wind and solar and using abundant supplies of natural gas as a transportation fuel, replacing more than one-third of our imported oil.
More than 1,350,000 people have joined the Pickens Army through the website www.pickensplan.com which has had over 11,000,000 hits.
Pickens picked up a formidable ally this week in the American Lung Association, now in its second century, a leading organization working to save lives, improve lung health and prevent lung disease. The association says it is “Fighting for Air” through research, education and advocacy.
The American Lung Association, a leader for decades in the fight for cleaner air, announced its support of the Pickens Plan at a press conference in New York with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and T. Boone Pickens.
Lung disease is the third leading cause of death in the United States. The American Lung Association, one of the foremost defenders of the Clean Air Act, publishes the State of the Air Report each year, which ranks the nation’s most polluted cities, and is a leader on issues involving air quality and health.
“Every person is dependent upon clean air for health and vitality,” said Steve Nolan, American Lung Association chairman. “Yet millions of Americans are consistently exposed to pollution levels that are scientifically proven to be harmful. The American Lung Association applauds Mr. Pickens’ goal of harnessing cleaner energy alternatives because cleaner energy will make our air healthier to breath.
“The American Lung Association is enthusiastic about engaging in this effort to build \\further support for the Pickens Plan,” Nolan continued. “Cleaner energy, such as the wind and solar power that the Pickens Plan recommends, is a solution that we support.”
Cars, trucks, heavy equipment, factories, power plants and other sources burn coal and oil and bombard the air with smog, soot, carcinogens, toxic chemicals and metals. Breathing dirty air causes hospitalizations, asthma attacks, heart attacks and lung cancer, as well as shortening the lives of tens of thousands of people in this country every year. It can even harm healthy, active adults. Children, seniors and people with lung disease, heart disease or diabetes face an even greater threat from unhealthy air.
“The American Lung Association tells me that well over 125 million people live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution,” explained Pickens. “Cleaner air is critical to the health and well-being of this country and I am thankful to have the support of this hundred year old organization. I set out with one goal when I launched the Pickens Plan: to reduce our dependency on foreign oil by at least 30 percent.
“The Pickens Plan will work,” Pickens continued. “It will not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil using renewable energy resources like wind and solar and natural gas as a transportation fuel, but it will also enrich America by providing domestic jobs, creating a greener environment to live in, and importantly giving us cleaner air to breathe.”
New York Mayor Bloomberg, who also took part in the press conference, has a goal to make that city have the cleanest air of any major city in the nation. The American Lung Association and New York City have worked together to develop and implement PlaNYC, the city’s sustainability agenda.
“Stopping the pollution that chokes our children’s lungs, slowing the climate change that threatens their world, and investing in the kind of renewable energy that can be produced right here in America will ensure a greener, greater, healthier future for New York City,” said Mayor Bloomberg.
“Hosting this event with the American Lung Association gives us the perfect opportunity to congratulate Boone on the growing support for his plan, and also to show him how New York City is putting some of its key concepts into action,” Bloomberg continued. “New York has long been recognized as a national leader in the acquisition of low-emission vehicles, and our fleets make use of compressed natural gas, hybrid and solar power and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel to keep the city running.”
In the Kansas City area, Steve Baru, former Kansas chairman of the Sierra Club, said, “Good for them. It makes sense that the American Lung Association would endorse the Pickens Plan. One big concern is the health of our communities, and there is a correlation between the quality of the air we breathe and our health.
“The Sierra Club is very concerned about air quality, and that’s why we are strongly against the old, out of date, polluting coal-fired power plants,” Baru continued. “One reason we’re supportive of the Pickens Plan is that it encourages the building of infrastructure that will support renewable, clean energy that doesn’t pollute the air we breathe.
“There are a few points of concern in the plan about dependence on natural gas because it is a non-renewable fuel, but it’s (the plan) preferable to coal-fired power plants and it may be a bridge to hydrogen fuel.
“The Pickens Plan is one more reason to oppose the controversial coal-fired power plants proposed for Holcomb, KS., and every little bit helps,” Baru said.
Amanda Graor, air quality planner for the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), said MARC has not taken a position on the Pickens Plan.
“There is no specific reason,” Graor said. “We’re not speaking for or against it. We support renewable energy and alternative energy sources, but taking a position on a specific plan is not something we’ve done up to this point.”
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