You’ve probably seen his television commercials or recently read something about T. Boone Pickens. Pickens is a billionaire oil tycoon who recognizes we’re in a losing battle when it comes to oil production, and he’s proposing a new idea. Well, the idea isn’t new. It’s been tossed around for years. What’s new is it’s now being advocated by this conservative Texas oil man.

Pickens says oil is an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. And the addiction has now reached a crisis point, he says. “In 1970, we imported 24 percent of our oil. Today, it’s nearly 70 percent and growing.” The U.S. Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have recently shown a willingness to allow more offshore oil drilling. But Pickens points out these short-term solutions are not the answer. “Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to find, and there just isn’t enough of it to keep up with demand,” he says. “The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.”

So Pickens proposes a transition to wind power.

His web site reports that studies from around the world show the Great Plains states are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world -- “by far.”

The Department of Energy reports that 20 percent of America’s electricity can come from wind, and North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power for more than a quarter of the country.
Pickens says building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20 percent of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns.

“That’s a lot of money, but it’s a one-time cost. And compared to the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it’s a bargain,” Pickens says.

We’re already seeing aggregate operations using conveyor setups to reduce the need for mobile equipment -- thereby cutting fuel costs. If the United States chooses to harness wind power, aggregate producers could see a drop in their energy costs. It would also reduce the price of oil by reducing world demand.

As Pickens has said, making this plan a reality will require some bold steps by the next president. Perhaps it’s time a president propose a national goal similar to Kennedy’s dream of landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. It sounded a far-fetched idea at the time. Yet we did it.