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T. Boone Pickens

spyguyspyguy Posts: 613
edited November 2008 in A Moving Train
what do you think of this guy?

http://www.pickensplan.com
Post edited by Unknown User on

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    I'm not entirely sure yet... He is a very successful business man, so I am inclined to think he is on the right track at least in a way that will not hurt our economy.

    Wind power is a tricky thing, because so many turbines are required to make significant power, and getting them built seems to run in to a "not in my backyard" fight.

    Natural gas powered vehicles doesn't seem like a great idea to me. First, it's still a non-renewable fossil fuel that will run out at some point in the distant future. And a large increase in demand (if we start shifting vehicles to natural gas) would probably raise the price that we pay for household usage.

    I am happy that there are starting to be high profile plans to help us with our energy problems... The solution will have to be a combination of several plans/technologies, but at least the discussion is really starting.
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
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    TiaMijaTiaMija Posts: 597
    Sign the petition at the site, if you agree!
    Better turbines in our "backyard" than blood-soaked oil from somewhere else!
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    spyguyspyguy Posts: 613
    TiaMija wrote:
    Sign the petition at the site, if you agree!
    Better turbines in our "backyard" than blood-soaked oil from somewhere else!

    high five
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    I really haven't enough info to form an opinion. But I do know this... For 35 straight days gas prices have fallen which happens to be the same time T Boone started running his TV adds and making public appearances. Coincidence?

    Does anyone know why congress called T Boone in for a special session last week?
    the Minions
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    spyguyspyguy Posts: 613
    I really haven't enough info to form an opinion. But I do know this... For 35 straight days gas prices have fallen which happens to be the same time T Boone started running his TV adds and making public appearances. Coincidence?

    Does anyone know why congress called T Boone in for a special session last week?

    check out the link I posted. plenty of information there.
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    Notch89Notch89 Posts: 71
    Does anyone know why congress called T Boone in for a special session last week?

    Pelosi and the Big Win Boone-doggle
    by Michelle Malkin
    Creators Syndicate
    Copyright 2008

    Pelosi and the Big Wind Boone-doggle
    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called congressional Republicans who want up-or-down drilling votes “hand maidens of the oil companies.” Let’s call Pelosi what she is: House girl of the Big Wind boondogglers.

    Though she seemingly backtracked on labeling drilling a “hoax” this week, Pelosi refuses to consider GOP energy proposals that don’t include massive government subsidies for eco-fantastical alternatives that have never panned out.

    Which brings us to Madame Speaker’s 2007 financial disclosure form. Schedule III lists “assets and ‘unearned income’” of between $100,001-$250,000 from Clean Energy Fuels Corp. - Public Common Stock.” Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is a natural gas provider founded by T. Boone Pickens. Yep, that T. Boone Pickens– former oilman-turned-wind power evangelist whose ads touting a national wind campaign are now as ubiquitous as Viagra promos.

    Pickens and Pelosi now share the same talking points downplaying the need to drill and open up more access to American oil. Instead, the Pickens pie-in-the-sky plan campaign proposes to completely replace natural gas with wind power in power generation and theoretically free up natural gas for America’s transportation needs.

    All well and good in la-la land. But let’s be real about the limitations and costs of wind power. Past and ongoing experience has demonstrated the notorious unreliability of wind and the miserably low operating capacity of wind power facilities here and around the world. Depending on wind requires supplemental fossil fuel plants as back up to be turned on and off to compensate for wind power supply shortfalls– nullifying any reductions in carbon dioxide emissions (which are miniscule, according to the National Academy of Sciences).

    Not to mention the thousands of sliced-up birds and other wildlife that have become wind power casualties (a problem that scientists say would be solved by “repowering” old turbines at a cost of untold billions).
    Fittingly, the environmental mascot of the Democrat National Convention– the showcase of their alternative energy approach — is an eastern Colorado wind turbine propped up with Democrat carbon credit funds that has never produced any energy because of chronic equipment malfunctions.

    But I digress.

    Naturally, the Pickens Big Wind plan is proudly endorsed by Do-Nothing Pelosi’s friends at the obstructionist Sierra Club. Through another company, Mesa Power, Pickens has committed upwards of $12 billion in wind farms on the Texas panhandle. CEFC and Mesa Power are separate entities. But what benefits one piece of the Pickens puzzle benefits them all. The wind venture, as Pickens himself acknowledges, depends on permanent federal subsidies.

    Pickens is banking on ‘em. And Pelosi’s banking on him.
    As reported on #dontgomovement.com, Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Pickens’ CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering:

    “She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high and municipal, state and even the Federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them becomes less and less attractive.”

    CLNE also happens to be the sponsor of Proposition 10, a ballot initiative in Pelosi’s home state of California to dole out a combined $10 billion in state and federal funds for renewable energy incentives. Namely: Natural gas and wind.

    Follow the money. Or, to put it in economist terms as energy analyst Kenneth Medlock III did in an interview with the Dallas Morning News about the Pickens multi-billion wind farm investment: “A lot of what he’s trying to do is add value to a stranded asset…he’s obviously got millions of dollars on the line.”

    And so, potentially, does the Democrat Speaker of the House windily wagging her finger at the financial motivations of others.









    New FTC Rule Could Apply

    Pelosi and Pals Could Be Hoisted On Their Own Petard!

    Under pressure from federal lawmakers concerned about high energy prices, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule prohibiting petroleum-market manipulation, giving the agency authority to levy fines of up to $1 million per violation a day.

    Pelosi, who owns stock in CLNE, a company founded by T Boon Pickens and LIBERAL activist WR Hambrecht, stands to make MILLIONS on an $50,000 to $100,000 investment which may include anywhere from 3,000 to 22,000 shares, depending on the price she paid.

    Here is a sense of perspective.
    Current Price: $14.70
    Open: $14.28
    Previous Close: $14.27
    Volume: 450,279
    Market Cap: $632.13M

    During the INITIAL offering, before the stock was offered in public, the stock was sold to a select group of investors for $3.86 per share, and this amounted to around 125,000 shares. Pelosi made her purchase on the day the stock was offered, which makes one suspicious that she was able to get the stock at the lower price. Her close ties to Hambrecht, a liberal activist who gives $80,000 per year to liberal causes, make one suspect that she had to have been in on the offering.

    Here is what is irrefutable. The company is valued at $632 MILL but if it succeed in its Proposition 10 proposal for California, it would increase its value at least tenfold and if the Pickens Plan, which calls for hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars, goes through its value could be increased a hundredfold! No matter how you slice it, Pelosi would WANT Proposition 10 AND the Pickens plan to succeed seeing as how she stands to gain $1 million to $10 million from the deal and for a woman who is “only” worth $25 million this is nothing to sneeze at.

    Pelosi’s manipulation of the market is of a most decisive kind, she is using the excuse of “saving the planet” to refuse to allow the market, and not a central panning committee or government, to determine what kind of energy is produced where. Pelosi is using the power of the Speaker’s chair, using the rhetoric of a green warrior, but by all appearances she is acting as the handmaiden of the Pickens Plan for her own gain.
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    Notch89 wrote:
    Pelosi and the Big Win Boone-doggle
    by Michelle Malkin


    That's as far as I got before I was physically unable to ready any further.
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
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    Don't buy into this guy. He is nothing but a corporate raider/ oil tycoon, who is trying to milk the government for some of their money to support his unprofitable wind portfolio.

    He has billions of his own on the line and is looking for government subsidies to make it profitable.... But the thing is this wind power is not even efficient, and there is not a reliable system to transmit and transport the power to the large metro areas.

    sounds nice on paper, but just remember hes like every other businessman and oil man there's a hidden agenda,
    BORGATA>VIC
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    spyguyspyguy Posts: 613
    Don't buy into this guy. He is nothing but a corporate raider/ oil tycoon, who is trying to milk the government for some of their money to support his unprofitable wind portfolio.

    He has billions of his own on the line and is looking for government subsidies to make it profitable.... But the thing is this wind power is not even efficient, and there is not a reliable system to transmit and transport the power to the large metro areas.

    sounds nice on paper, but just remember hes like every other businessman and oil man there's a hidden agenda,

    whats his hidden agenda? to make money, provide jobs, and get rid of our foreign dependence on oil? yea, what an asshole. besides, your signature makes you lose all credibility anyway ;)
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    slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,757
    I think when an oilman decides to invest in wind ... that should tell you something right there.
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
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    spyguyspyguy Posts: 613
    I think when an oilman decides to invest in wind ... that should tell you something right there.

    what does it tell you?
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    HartydogHartydog Posts: 2,060
    He has some interesting thoughts and has had a lot of success in the past. One small problem is the places (on land) where there is a lot of wind (the midwest) are far away from the places that consume the most power(the coasts). In order to match the power generation with the power demand you would to have a large infrastructure build out to get the power to where it's needed.
    Boston 9-28-04, 5-24-06, 5-25-06, 5-17-10, 8-5-16, 8-7-16, 9-2-18, 9-4-18
    Hartford 5-13-06, 6-27-08, 10-25-13
    Mansfield, MA 6-30-08, 6-28-08, 7-2-03, 7-3-03, 7-11-03, 8-29-00, 8-30-00, 9-15-98, 9-16-98
    Worcester 10-15-13, 10-16-13
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    CupofjoeCupofjoe Posts: 557
    Buying all the water rights all over texas is probably one of his best moves!
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    blondieblue227blondieblue227 Va, USA Posts: 4,508
    Don't buy into this guy. He is nothing but a corporate raider/ oil tycoon, who is trying to milk the government for some of their money to support his unprofitable wind portfolio.

    He has billions of his own on the line and is looking for government subsidies to make it profitable.... But the thing is this wind power is not even efficient, and there is not a reliable system to transmit and transport the power to the large metro areas.

    sounds nice on paper, but just remember hes like every other businessman and oil man there's a hidden agenda,


    that's what i think too. but what is it? he has money.
    anybody read his book?
    *~Pearl Jam will be blasted from speakers until morale improves~*

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    jimed14jimed14 Posts: 9,488
    Saw him last night on Hannity and Colmes ... he shut Sean Hannity up pretty quickly about Hannity's love for "drill baby drill" ... as well as Sean's theory of Oil SHale being microwaved into oil we can use ... as TBP states "That's great if you want $200 per barrel oil."

    He's 80 years old and loaded, I want to beleive he's not in this to make a shit load of money.

    As for all the articles about wind above, I think TBP is more about Natural Gas ... when it comes to changing autos, and more notably trucks, into alternative fuels ... electricity ain't going to move an 18 wheeler.

    Think of everything that has to go into a change from oil/gas to an alternative energy to just fuel cars ...

    There needs to be a huge investment in exploration, extraction and any form of refinery work on natural gas.

    Auto makers have to retool and build all these new vehicles ... as well as market them

    There needs to be infrastructure to distribute this natural gas ... meaning, there needs to be "natural gas stations" ...

    No one wants to be the first mover here, no one seems to want to take the huge investment to get it done.

    This is where, unfortunately, the government may have to step in ...

    From everything I've read, we CAN produce enough energy to severely lessen our need for foriegn oil ... but ... until we can do it chaper and/or easier than the current oil ... no one is going to budge.

    We need a "micro chip" like innovation to get the ball moving.
    "You're one of the few Red Sox fans I don't mind." - Newch91

    "I don't believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass." --- Pedro Martinez
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    Gonzo1977Gonzo1977 Posts: 1,690
    In 2005 my family made a bold move.

    With the help of a family friend and local "Green Engineer", My Wife and I had a windmill built on our property.

    I can not begin to tell you how it has profoundly changed our lives.

    My house and my family are completley 100% energy suficient and whatever energy that we have left over...we give back to the city.

    Aside from the personal satisfaction of knowing that we are not strapped to an obsolete, and costly system ..we take pride in the fact that we took a chance and are now living proof that this type of energy system can work for anyone.

    We are proud that we are amoung the first in our community to embrace Wind Technology and have it work so sucessfully. It's a great pride to bring people over to the house and show them that such a technology can very easily work for anyone.

    Keep in mind we have a rather large plot of land which enabled us to construct a windmill on our property.

    Unfortuantely the way windmills are constructed today...not many people have the luxury of such an option.

    The windmill systems are much too large for the average home; not to mention incredibly expensive to construct.

    If Wind technology is to be our future, we need to work on the above constraints that are currently stoping people from switching over. We need to make this technology availible to the average home.

    Just imagine what that could do.

    Right now Personal Wind Energy is in it's infant stages... But I'm hopefull that some of these obstacles that stand in the way are easy fixes and that very shortly the average American can have the luxury of such an amazing technology.

    I respect Pickens for championing this. I just don't feel that American's and the World have embraced this kind of thinking and it's about time that this got a major push into mainstream mindset.

    Whatever Pickens intentions are...It's great to see this get more attention, and if nothing else he's doing a great job at putting the possibilit of this technology at the back of peoples minds.
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    godpt3godpt3 Posts: 1,020
    He's donated like a bazillion bucks to Oklahoma State University athletics and basically tried to buy Bill Self after KU won the NCAA Championship last year. I don't trust him :)
    "If all those sweet, young things were laid end to end, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised."
    —Dorothy Parker

    http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6902/conspiracytheoriesxt6qt8.jpg
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    TiaMijaTiaMija Posts: 597
    Congratulations, Gonzo1977!
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    PJ_SalukiPJ_Saluki Posts: 1,006
    spyguy wrote:
    what do you think of this guy?

    http://www.pickensplan.com

    He's very charismatic. He's been a guy who can see future energy trends. I don't know how much I trust him.
    "Almost all those politicians took money from Enron, and there they are holding hearings. That's like O.J. Simpson getting in the Rae Carruth jury pool." -- Charles Barkley
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    Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    No one can attack his credibility on oil. He knows oil, he's made billions in the business. The idea in total is to break the US dependance on foreign oil essentially by any means necessary, that's where wind comes in.

    The Honda Civic FCX is only semi on the market as all vehicles are leased (see EV1), but that CNG technology is already proven to work, not only that, Honda has built a NG filling system to work on home NG hookups so you can fuel your car in the garage. It's quite feasable for the majority of commuters. Much of the Pickens plan is about bridging gaps so the idea that we should hold off on these kinds of things is short sighted.

    The idea that technology doesn't exist is a falsehood. It does, the infrastructure does not yet anyway but it's not THAT far away. In truth the US should be drilling more in the Gulf of Mexico but time for that to start was 20 or 30 years ago. At this point that could be stepped up greatly. Oil Shale and Coal Gassification are probably actually less feasable than Nuclear, Solar and Wind anyway.

    The ultimate idea is using the resources we already have available and that's pretty damn smart.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
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    dmitrydmitry Posts: 136
    I think Pickens is a savvy billionaire who wants to use the federal government to further enrich himself and his pals by shrewdly taking advantage of people who have been scared by global warming and energy independence foolishness.
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    Kudos on using wind power. Many people could do that as well. However, imagine if commercial buildings started doing this.

    http://www.metaefficient.com/renewable-power/rooftop-wind-turbines-ready-for-commercial-use.html

    The youtube vid link in the article is very interesting. The technology is out there and many people will make a killing developing and selling this technology.
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    I really haven't enough info to form an opinion. But I do know this... For 35 straight days gas prices have fallen which happens to be the same time T Boone started running his TV adds and making public appearances. Coincidence?

    Does anyone know why congress called T Boone in for a special session last week?

    His ads have been running for a lot longer than 35 days. No connection to gas prices.
    I'm not who you think i am....
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    El_KabongEl_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    That's as far as I got before I was physically unable to ready any further.


    aw, it was quite the treat

    'big wind' lmfao
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
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    I'm not entirely sure yet... He is a very successful business man, so I am inclined to think he is on the right track at least in a way that will not hurt our economy.

    Be careful. Everyone from Cheney/Bush on down to Wall St. are wealthy businessmen- which is different from being successful. The economy of the country and now the globe are a complete shambles because of these very people. Wealth and old age don't necessarily lead to great acts of altruism.
    His intentions may not be to hurt the economy but they're going to be more self serving than not. He's been campaigning and getting out the message he wants heard. Ask more questions before you make your choices.
    I'm not who you think i am....
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