America is addicted to foreign oil. It's
an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our
national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties
our hands as a nation and a people. The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of crisis.
In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil.
Today it's nearly 70% and growing. As
imports grow and world prices rise, the amount of money we send to
foreign nations every year is soaring. At current oil prices, we will
send $700 billion dollars out of the country this year alone — that's
four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.
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Projected
over the next 10 years the cost will be $10 trillion — it will be the
greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.
America
uses a lot of oil. Every day 85 million barrels of oil are produced
around the world. And 21 million of those are used here in the United
States.
That's 25% of the world's oil demand. Used by just 4% of the world's population.
Can't we just produce more oil?
World
oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an
unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the
last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to
find and there just isn't enough of it to keep up with demand.
The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.
What's the good news?
The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power. 
Studies
from around the world show that the Great Plains states are home to the
greatest wind energy potential in the world — by far.
The
Department of Energy reports that 20% of America's electricity can come
from wind. North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power for
more than a quarter of the country.
Today's
wind turbines stand up to 410 feet tall, with blades that stretch 148
feet in length. The blades collect the wind's kinetic energy. In one
year, a 3-megawatt wind turbine produces as much energy as 12,000
barrels of imported oil.
Wind
power currently accounts for 48 billion kWh of electricity a year in
the United States — enough to serve more than 4.5 million households.
That is still only about 1% of current demand, but the potential of
wind is much greater.
A 2005 Stanford University study
found that there is enough wind power worldwide to satisfy global
demand 7 times over — even if only 20% of wind power could be captured.
Building
wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle
to North Dakota could produce 20% 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.
An economic revival for rural America. Developing wind power is an investment in rural America.
To witness the economic promise of wind energy, look no further than Sweetwater, Texas.
Sweetwater
was typical of many small towns in middle-America. With a shortage of
good jobs, the youth of Sweetwater were leaving in search of greater
opportunities. And the town's population dropped from 12,000 to under
10,000.
When a large wind
power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater experienced a
revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back to life and the
population has grown back up to 12,000.
In
the Texas panhandle, just north of Sweetwater, is the town of Pampa,
where T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power is currently building the largest
wind farm in the world.
At
4,000 megawatts — the equivalent combined output of four large
coal-fire plants — the production of the completed Pampa facility will
double the wind energy output of the United States.
In
addition to creating new construction and maintenance jobs, thousands
of Americans will be employed to manufacture the turbines and blades.
These are high skill jobs that pay on a scale comparable to aerospace
jobs.
Plus, wind turbines
don't interfere with farming and grazing, so they don't threaten food
production or existing local economies.
A cheap new replacement for foreign oil. The Honda Civic GX Natural Gas Vehicle is the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle in the world according to the EPA.
Natural gas and bio-fuels are the only domestic energy sources used for transportation.
Cleaner Natural gas is the cleanest transportation fuel available today.
According
to the California Energy Commission, critical greenhouse gas emissions
from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower than gasoline.
Natural gas vehicles (NGV)
are already available and combine top performance with low emissions.
The natural gas Honda Civic GX is rated as the cleanest production
vehicle in the world.
According to NGVAmerica, there are more than 7 million NGVs in use worldwide, but only 150,000 of those are in the United States.
The
EPA estimates that vehicles on the road account for 60% of carbon
monoxide pollution and around one-third of hydrocarbon and nitrogen
oxide emissions in the United States. As federal and state emissions
laws become more stringent, many requirements will be unattainable with
conventionally fueled vehicles.
Since
natural gas is significantly cleaner than petroleum, NGVs are
increasing in popularity. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
recently announced that 16,800 old diesel trucks will be replaced, and
half of the new vehicles will run on alternatives such as natural gas.
Cheaper Natural
gas is significantly less expensive than gasoline or diesel. In places
like Utah and Oklahoma, prices are less than $1 a gallon. To see
fueling stations and costs in your area, check out cngprices.com.
Domestic Natural
gas is our country's second largest energy resource and a vital
component of our energy supply. 98% of the natural gas used in the
United States is from North America. But 70% of our oil is purchased
from foreign nations.
Natural
gas is one of the cleanest, safest and most useful forms of energy —
residentially, commercially and industrially. The natural gas industry
has existed in the United States for over 100 years and continues to
grow.
Domestic natural gas
reserves are twice that of petroleum. And new discoveries of natural
gas and ongoing development of renewable biogas are continually adding
to existing reserves.
While it is a cheap, effective and versatile fuel, less than 1% of natural gas is currently used for transportation.
The Mechanics We
currently use natural gas to produce 22% of our electricity. Harnessing
the power of wind to generate electricity will give us the flexibility
to shift natural gas away from electricity generation and put it to use
as a transportation fuel — reducing our dependence on foreign oil by
more than one-third.
How do we get it done? The
Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future — a blueprint to reduce foreign
oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives, and buy us
time to develop even greater new technologies.
Building
new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas
resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in
10 years. But it will take leadership.
On January 20th, 2009, a new President will take office.
We're organizing behind the Pickens Plan now to ensure our voices will be heard by the next administration.
Together
we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America's
energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency —
breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic
energy future for America with a focus on sustainability.
You can start changing America's future today by supporting the Pickens Plan. Join now
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