Second thoughts about the Pickens Plan
I'm rapidly losing faith in T. Boone Pickens and his mission to change the tenor of the idiotic debate over energy in this country.
I already expressed mild misgivings the week he unveiled the Pickens Plan. But I gave him points for trying to get us out of the quagmire of a false choice between drilling on the one hand and conservation/alternative energy on the other. Commenters responding to my post seemed jazzed by the idea that zero taxpayer dollars would be required.
Ah, but it's not that simple.
From the Los Angeles Times, an opinion piece by Anthony Rubinstein appears to blow the no-public-dollars argument out of the water. Now, Rubinstein appears to be a typical government-has-the-only-solutions kind of environmentalist, but his concerns can't be dismissed out of hand.
It would seem Pickens is bankrolling the campaign for a referendum in California this year…
This measure would authorize the sale of $5 billion in general fund bonds to provide alternative energy rebates and incentives — but by the time the principal and the interest is paid off, it would squander at least $9.8 billion in taxpayer money on Pickens' self-serving natural gas agenda.
The initiative deceptively reads like it's supporting all alternative-fuel vehicles and renewable energy sources. But a closer read finds a laundry list of cash grabs — from $200 million for a liquefied natural gas terminal to $2.5 billion for rebates of up to $50,000 for each natural gas vehicle.
Much of the measure's billions could benefit Pickens' company to the exclusion of almost all other clean-vehicle fuels and technology.
I have no idea whether Rubinstein's numbers add up. But whatever the math, this sure looks like a huge back-door subsidy for the alt-energy industry in general, and Pickens in particular.
Bond issues are how cowardly state, county, and municipal politicians fund their favored schemes. "This won't be funded with a dime of taxpayer money," they claim. Except when it comes time to retire the debt, of course. (Then they threaten to slash services if they don't get a big tax increase.) But the strategy can work equally as well for a private party seeking a place at the public trough when he or she can't convince lawmakers put the line-items in the state budget.
So the free-market cachet of the Pickens Plan is already starting to look a little dicey. And if the argument is that these alt-energy schemes can't succeed otherwise, might I suggest slashing tax rates in general to put more money in the pockets of the entrepreneurs who can make things happen, rather than using government as a blunt instrument of social engineering to steer investment into certain sectors?
But I digress. The real problem is there will likely be more of these devil-in-the-details revelations about the Pickens Plan in the weeks and months ahead — making Pickens an increasingly flawed spokesman for the cause of Peak Oil awareness. That's the last thing we need. It'll give the politicians every excuse to carry on their insipid false-choice debate, evading the harsh reality facing us, well into next year and perhaps beyond, even as gas climbs toward $7 a gallon.
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So what? At least he’s taking the lead.
See, I learned long ago that it is far easier to sit back and bitch rather than get involved.
T. Boone is taking the lead. He has shouldered the risk. So what if he benefits? It’s just as likely that he’ll fail in the final analysis. Especially with a small claque of jealous types such as you.
I could go on and on. But I have no time for it. I, for one, would go through hell in a gasoline suit for T. Boone Pickens.
Comment on August 1, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
WOW! Somebody has a crush on Pickens.
Comment on August 1, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
I see were you are going with this and the kick back so to speak. Can you for a fact prove that is what this is about? Next have you a plan? If so please let us know.
Private enter-prize is by far the best rout. We the people sit back and wait on government intervention for invention it will not happen. I say good for T.Boone for his willingness and desire to lead out. This is the stuff a younger generation needs to learn from.
Stephen Fish
Comment on August 1, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
Pickens Plan, will be a boom.
Not like you think however. In order to acheive the energy density of natgas, in each car, the pressure will have to be jacked up considerably. With current tank technology, we will be driving around in FUEL AIR BOMBS.
Consider this.
Comment on August 2, 2008 @ 9:43 am
fuel air bombs, COOOOLLL!!! You imagine hearin’ a loud loud incredibly harsh bang and realizin’ ‘whoah, there goes another natgas blowup on the freeway!’ Just think of what a chain reaction ’splosion would be like say at a toll booth or just in bumper-to-bombper traffic . . .
Comment on August 2, 2008 @ 11:55 pm
If it comes out of the ground, it will eventually be exhausted. If is comes out of sunlight, it will eventually be free, like air and light.
Sunlight and sun heat are free. Technology exists today to produce electricity and hydrogen from sunlight.
If the government or T Boone were serious about providing energy for the future, the solution comes up every morning at dawn and is available until sunset.
Comment on August 3, 2008 @ 8:16 am
The Boone master plan! Oh boy, green bubble here we come! Their is no slowing down the train, alternative energy will never keep up with comsumption. Conservation is a thing of the past, but people are thinking about it again as inflation starts to rear it’s ugly head. We should just build more nuke power plants and export all our coal to keep the country afloat.
Comment on August 3, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
not only does he have a CRUSH on T. Boone, but Bald Headed Nitwit is also most aptly namend (though I can’t be 100% sure about the lack of hair).
Gimme a break, of course the whole thing is intended to line T. Boone’s pockets, hiding behind the good deed. How was that ever different with him and his ilk?
Thank god it’s a California initiative, that will leave us east coasters out for at least sometime. And its smart, after all, if you’re gonna roast a goose, why not go for the fattest of them all?
Comment on August 3, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
The idea that Pickens has the ability to do anything whatsoever that doesn’t primarily benefit him is a laugh. Mother Theresa died broke.
Comment on August 4, 2008 @ 11:03 am
THE ONE BIGGEST BONE I HAVE TO PICK UPON WITH “T-BONE / T. BOONE” IS THAT WHILE HE IS ORDERING ALL THESE WIND TURBINES FROM G.E., HE IS SIMULTANEOUSLY ENGAGING IN PIRACY OF THE WATER IN THE OGALLALA AQUIFER WITH HIS BUDDIES IN THE PRIVATE COMPANY KNOWN AS MESA WATER, TO PIPE IT DOWN TO DALLAS AND SELL IT TO MEET THE FRIVOLOUS NEEDS FOR “TRUCK WASHES” OF URBAN COWBOYS!
DRIVING HOME FROM THE AGORA SEMINAR IN VANCOUVER, ON I-80, AND EAST OF OGALLALA NEBRASKEA, I NOTED MANY FARM FIELDS THAT DEPEND ON THIS UNDERGROUND SOURCE OF IRRIGATION AND WITHOUT IT, THEY WOULD BE LIKELY REVERT TO SUITABLE ONLY TO RAISE SWITCHGRASS AND AMERICAN BISON! IT WOULD MAKE A LOVELY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR T-BONE TO BUY LAND FOR 5 CENTS ON THE DOLLAR AND THEN EXPORT BUFFALO STEAKS TO JAPAN AND CHINA - ALL CERTIFIED AS DEVOID OF MAD-COW AND MAD-AMERICAN DISEASE.
SOME BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES RUN CONTRARY TO THE COMMON GOOD AND THE NATIONAL INTEREST!
Comment on August 5, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
[...] about energy policy, and T. Boone Pickens's stab at a constructive solution starts to look ever-more shaky, we are faced with this grim reality: Peak Oil is still a "fringe" [...]
Pingback on August 6, 2008 @ 9:21 am
Wait a minute, why would anyone ever have “faith” in Picken’s plan?
Criminals always act in a criminal manner.
And by criminal I mean the good ole boys club.
Wow, how could any adult be so naive as to fall for propaganda? But hey, I just read Bill Bonner, and he is spreading the BS that the FBI is promoting about the anthrax mailer. He even was a dupe enough to comment on how nice it was that Ivins saved us the cost of a trial. I guess Mr. Bonner has never heard of the term “patsy.”
Is there anything MORE SUSPECT than the FBI announcing “look we found the terrorist, and he killed himself, and there was absolutely no one else involved.” Nothing to see here, move along now…
So I guess any level of delusion is possible, given this adherence to conventional ignorance.
All I know is that there are way too many Kool-Aid drinkers for my liking. Which really sucks, because one of the reasons I frequent the dailyreckoning is the spirit of illuminating the naked emperor. Instead of that though, I see them busy admiring all the fancy facades, while congratulating themselves on not being suckers, like all the rest.
Propaganda is not real, please stop pretending that it is, otherwise, you’re no better than the empire you pretend to oppose.
Is reality really that hard to perceive? Or does the pressures of writing daily lead one to accept whatever the MSM claims reality is.
Damn, where’d all the skeptics go?
Comment on August 8, 2008 @ 1:15 pm