WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Texas oil tycoon pitches wind power at Washington and Lee University
Member Center:
Washington and Lee University has hosted a lot of well known speakers recently.
They include the NFL Commissioner and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
The latest is a famous billionaire who has a message for all Americans.
T. Boone Pickens has been criss-crossing the country trying to sell his alternative energy plan. His latest stop was here on the campus of Washington and Lee.
Pickens told the crowd of more than a hundred inside Lee Chapel that America is too dependent on foreign oil.
The Pickens Plan calls for generating more electricity from wind.
He also wants the country to use more cars and trucks that run on natural gas.
"I think it's 100 percent realistic. I know the reserves are there. I understand the business," says Pickens.
Pickens says more than 1.5 million people have joined his fight since it launched last summer.
It got a lot of attention then because gas prices were nearly four dollars a gallon.
We asked him how difficult is his mission now that gas prices have fallen.
"No question you're more focused at $4 dollar gasoline than $2 dollar gasoline, but remember you are still imported the same percentage," says T. Boone Pickens.
Pickens clearly had a receptive audience here at W&L but he does have his critics.
Some say the oil tycoon will benefit handsomely if his plans takes off since he wants to build a massive turbine wind farm in Texas.
"I've already spent $60 million if that's what I'm after I can tell you there would have been a more cheaper way to have to go about it then the way I've done it," says Pickens.
The well known Republican says he has supporters on both sides of the aisles including President Obama and many Senators like Harry Reid.
"I said 'Senator, this is my plan' and I laid out the plan to him and he said 'Boone, you are right that's a non-partisan issue what you're doing is all about America'," says Pickens.
Pickens may have convinced many politicians, but he knows he has to convince more Americans.
To learn more about Picken's plan, click here.
