It’s Getting Hot In Here

The University of Texas at Austin was visited by the well-known personage that is T. Boone Pickens. He was there to promote the Pickens Plan which would replace 22% of our electrical generation with wind power, and replace 38% of our oil consumption with natural gas. His down-home approach had the audience endeared and occasionally chuckling, but Power Vote and others were there to take him to task.

This is the first in a three part series of videos and commentary from the event.

Pickens’ Advisors Said He Would Decide Whether To Pledge for Power Vote Next Week

After students at the University of Michigan asked Mr. Pickens to sign the pledge in Ann Arbor, he and his advisors took the pledge and said they would look at it. So Anna Pierce from ReEnergize Texas and the Sierra Student Coalition showed up with the pledge and asked again. Once they realized they’d failed to do due diligence for their boss, Pickens’ advisors swooped in and said we should ask them again at Mr. Pickens’ event in Stillwater, OK.

And so the countdown begins. Will Mr. Pickens sign our pledge? Will he support Clean Energy 2030? Ultimately it’s his decision. But what I can say personally is that I’ve watched Mr. Pickens’ plan evolve over time, and it is getting better. He is responding to people.

Speaking to one of Mr. Pickens’ advisors after the event, I learned two important things. First, that Mr. Pickens didn’t sign the Power Vote pledge, not because he didn’t want to, but because he receives 100s of requests of this or a similar nature at every event. But now he knows Power Vote is different and it isn’t going away. Second, his team read our Op-Ed in the student paper and briefed Mr. Pickens on it. This Op-Ed encouraged Mr. Pickens to look at the Google plan and consider working with them. In other words, he knows a better plan exists, and its up to us to get him to back it.