Pickens Plan, RIP?

Like him or not, T Boone Pickens has some intriguing and inspiring ideas about our energy future. By putting a considerable amount of his own money where his mouth is, T Boone has done us a great service in at least 2 ways —

1. He has used his ‘bully pulpit’ as one of our richest and most notorious oil men to educate the public that the days of oil are passing – that it’s time to transition to primary energy sources that are keep our Dollars at home and preserve oil for more value-adding uses than moving us from here to there.
2. He has spent big money to prime the alternative energy pump – wind farms for electricity, natural gas as transportation fuel, and publicity to educate and motivate the public. Absolutely (to answer some critics), he would get richer still if his recommendations were carried out, but better, I’d say, that he get rich if it means we all get a better energy and economic future.

And so I was disappointed (but not much surprised) that Pickens is pulling back from many of his wind and natural gas plans.
UPDATE – July 9
Pickens now says the earlier story was wrong. The wind farm project will be delayed until 2013, due to inadequate transmission lines, not cancelled.

As I’ve predicted (here, for instance, and here) more than once, alternative energy developments cannot thrive in an environment of yo-yo’ing petroleum prices. They killed alternative energy 30 years ago, and they are strangling alternative energy today.

Tags: energy price, natural gas, oil price, Pickens Plan, solar, wind