Boone Pickens: U.S. In Energy Crisis

HOUSTON, June 12 /PRNewswire/ — Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens says energy is in a crisis in the U.S. and should be the No. 1 campaign issue for the presidential candidates. Pickens spoke at Oil and Gas Investor’s Energy Capital Forum in Houston Tuesday.

“Energy is not a debate; it’s a crisis for this country,” Pickens said. “We cannot continue down the path were on. It’s that desperate.”


The 80-year-old former owner of Mesa Petroleum, which he sold in the mid-1990s, said the U.S. currently pays out $700 billion per year on oil imports and will increase to $10 trillion annually within 10 years if the pattern continues.

The energy crisis is a result of decades of lack of leadership that has led to a breakdown. Now, “somebody has to show up to fix it.” He doubts the candidates understand the urgency of the circumstances.

Pickens chided Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama for “throwing around the windfall profits tax like a piece of balsa wood.

“I don’t think the senator knows anything about energy. He sounds good for about two minutes.”

Republican candidate Sen. John McCain received little more support. “I don’t know how much he knows either. He wants to lower the gas tax during the summer. What the hell is he talking about? Will that fix anything?”

PRNewswire