A man who made billions in the energy industry warned students Friday of a grim ending to the country’s dependence on non-renewable resources.
In the first of a series of planned Student Government Association speakers this year, T. Boone Pickens told about 140 students, faculty members and community activists in the Stamp Student Union Atrium that the country’s foreign oil addiction will lead to a catastrophic economic crisis in the near future.
In 2008, the United States spent $475 billion on foreign oil, according to Pickens, who chairs two companies centered on energy-oriented investment, water marketing and ranch development initiatives. This is an enormous amount compared to the fragile state of the nation’s economy, he said.
“I can get to the finish line with my age and standard of living,” Pickens said. “You have to worry about this 50 years from now. I don’t have to worry.”
Pickens encouraged students to support his “Pickens Plan” for energy independence. Launched last year with a media-intensive campaign, the plan aims to reduce the country’s oil dependence through conservation strategies, including increased use of wind energy, and a conversion from one non-renewable resource to another.
Pickens states in his plan that the country must use its many natural gas reserves to remove itself from the “unfriendly” foreign oil companies it trades with regularly.
Given that the Pickens Plan’s natural gas substitution requires new automotive technology, some remain skeptical about this element of his plan.
“It’s silly. It’s essentially switching from one fossil fuel to another. Simply delaying another energy crisis,” said Jesse Yurow, agriculture and natural resources legislator.
Although the plan attempts to solve the country’s oil dependency on a national level, SGA President Steve Glickman and Pickens assured attendees that college students with limited means can contribute to the project’s goals.
“On a campus level students can do the small things to help limit our dependence on non-renewable energy,” Glickman said. “That ranges from deciding not to drive from class to class to larger things like carpooling when they’re going home for the holidays instead of driving individually.”
Glickman said that Pickens’ experience will prove valuable to the university’s effort to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to cut costs through reduced energy use.
One student, who said he considers Pickens his idol, said he admired the speaker’s stance against using ethanol as an energy source.
“It’s unethical to use corn for fuel. Then, people in Mexico can’t afford to buy tortillas,” said Jacob Dinerman, a freshman economics major.
Despite the varying opinions on the country’s reliance on petroleum, one consensus remains clear: The world’s supply of oil will begin to dwindle by the end of the century.
“Americans cannot keep depending on foreign oil. It’s just not a plausible plan,” Dinerman said.
quijada@umdbk.com
