Once the initial excitement is over... watching someone finally get up and show a substantial plan to save this country... I must make the following observations, and ask some questions:
Several years ago, foreward thinking companies came to out great state of Texas and built (with their $) clean efficient Natural Gas fired power plants. They are all over our state, some are small units like the one located near my hometown of Waxahachie, close to Ennis. They were built to make electricity... something I have a deep and abiding love for. There are probably 50 - 100 in our state now. Mr. Pickens proposes to replace their output with wind derived power. Excellent idea. I travel all over West Texas and love seeing the massive wind farms that already exist, and the many being built. I think Texas is the leading producer of wind derived power. The problem is, who is going to close all of those nice clean efficient gas fired plants? Last time I looked, they were still owned by private companies. Maybe we just jump over the natural gas powered cars and move right to electric? Keep the gas fired power plants, and keep building the US wind derived future.
Coal... good old Texas lignite is out there, not the cleanest, but it's deficiencies are being dealt with on the exhaust end. TXU is building new facilities to be fueled by lignite. Reliant or whatever they are called now has several plants in central texas powered partially by lignite blended with lower Sulphur coal... good reliable power... we have coal, we need power.
Oil.. let's be real here. We need refined fuels. All the flowery suggestions and dreams of a departure from diesel and gasoline are nice, but it's not going to happen in our lifetime. Of course we will move to better and smarter technology, many good citizens have already done this. Many of us will do it soon, and many will when thay can afford it. I don't see a Toyota tractor puling a 50,000lb trailer down the highway with a nice little "Hybrid" logo on the fender. Not today anyway. It will cost billions $$$ to replace the vehicles of today...and right now I think most of use are just a little fearfull of our financial futures. The last thing I can do right now is buy a new vehicle.
So, where is our reality?
DRILL our oil, pay Americans for oil, they will spend it here! Fund our inventors to develop real alternatives, and listen to people like Mr. Pickens, at least he stood up. Each of us can make a difference, and most of you reading this probably already are.
One fine day I hope to see the middle east returned to the pristine desert t once was!
We are Texans....and we will change the world.
Dave
A black hole is supposed to be so dense that its intense gravity causes it to cave in on itself, not even letting light escape. I think Mr. Price is a Black Hole. He proves the theory.
