{"id":3820,"date":"2013-01-04T18:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T18:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamp1.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/?p=395"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:22:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:22:18","slug":"convocation-with-t-boone-pickens-energizes-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/2013\/01\/04\/convocation-with-t-boone-pickens-energizes-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"Convocation with T. Boone Pickens energizes crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

T. Boone Pickens has a plan to end the United States\u2019 dependency on foreign oil, and he shared it with more than 3,000 people at Missouri Western last fall at the 19th<\/sup> Convocation on Critical Issues. He says the solution is natural gas.
\n\u201cThe United States today is fully capable of having enough oil available without using the 2 million barrels a day out of the Persian Gulf,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are the biggest natural gas producer in the world.\u201d
\nBoone\u2019s plan involves drilling for natural gas in the United States, because it is \u201ccheaper and cleaner than oil, domestic, and we have an abundance of it.\u201d
\nOne of the big issues for people is the method of drilling \u2013 hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Boone insisted that fracking is safe and does not damage the environment. He said fracking has been practiced since the 1950s, but he maintains that in the past 10 years, the technology of fracking has advanced so much that the natural gas can be drilled economically without harming the environment.
\nAlthough it would be expensive to convert vehicles to natural gas usage, Boone pointed out that several of the past wars the United States has been involved in were to protect its oil interests, and they were expensive. And, he said, we are spending a lot of money policing the Persian Gulf to protect the oil coming out of there, as well.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got the energy here. We don\u2019t have to be in the Persian Gulf,\u201d Boone said. \u201cI say get the hell out of there and come home.\u201d
\nHe criticized the current administration and administrations going back to the Richard Nixon era, for not making the United States independent of foreign oil. \u201cEvery one of them, I don\u2019t care if they were Democrat or Republican, said, \u2018Elect me and I\u2019ll make us energy independent.\u2019 We are the only country in the world without an energy plan.\u201d
\nHe got a good laugh from the audience when he explained that you can\u2019t have a five-minute discussion about energy with anyone in Washington (D.C.) because \u201cafter three minutes, you\u2019ve run out of everything they know.\u201d
\nIn 1997, Boone and Andrew Littlefair formed Pickens Fuel Corp. which went public in 2008 as Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
\nBoone, who graduated with a geology degree from Oklahoma State University, told the audience that 10 years ago, he had a hard time telling students who were studying geology or engineering that they were on the right career path.
\nBut today is different. \u201cNow there are great opportunities. Energy will be a big part of your lives and a bigger part of this country,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cWe will go back to being an energy superpower within the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alum picks T. Boone\u2019s plan for alternative fuels
\n<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hearing T. Boone Pickens speak at Missouri Western\u2019s Convocation on Critical Issues last fall was not the first time Mark Watkins \u201981, had heard him speak about the benefits of natural gas for transportation. In fact, hearing Boone speak four years ago led Mark to his current job.
\nMark had been selling hydrogen generators for zero-emission fuel cell vehicles when he heard Boone speak about his \u201cPickens Plan,\u201d which is using compressed natural gas for vehicles at an Alternative Fuels and Vehicles Conference in Las Vegas in 2008. After hearing his talk, Mark said he decided he wanted to work for Boone\u2019s company, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. In 2010, he was hired by the company as a business development manager, marketing compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas refueling stations in the Northwest United States.
\nMark said many people believe hydrogen is the ultimate zero-emission transportation fuel, but he believes the technology is 15-20 years away from being commercially viable. Since reforming natural gas is the cheapest way to produce hydrogen, natural gas fuel is the gateway to hydrogen fuel. So Boone\u2019s company was a good fit for him.
\nMark said more and more transportation companies are switching their gasoline or diesel vehicles to run on compressed natural gas. For example, Boone\u2019s company, Clean Energy Corp., purchased a company that converts vehicles to run on natural gas, and over the past 15 years, it has converted 15,000 vehicles. However, Mark said the company is on target to convert 5,000 in 2012.
\nJust as Boone noted in his address at Missouri Western, Mark explained that using natural gas for transportation became a clear winner for transportation fuel when hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, methods improved in the past two years.
\nWhen he heard that Boone was going to speak at his alma mater, Mark traveled from his home in California for the presentation. \u201cHe is an amazing man with clear vision and determination to help our country become energy independent,\u201d Mark said. \u201cHe is such an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cutline 58: T. Boone Pickens visits with Marvin Shutler, from Kansas City, Mo., and Mark Watkins \u201981. Mark works for Boone\u2019s company, Clean Energy Corp., and Marvin is Mark\u2019s father-in-law. Mark, a native of St. Joseph, traveled from California to hear Boone speak at Mark\u2019s alma mater.<\/p>\n

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T. Boone Pickens speaks at the 19th annual Convocation on Critical Issues.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T. Boone Pickens has a plan to end the United States\u2019 dependency on foreign oil, and he shared it with more than 3,000 people at Missouri Western last fall at the 19th Convocation on Critical Issues. He says the solution is natural gas. \u201cThe United States today is fully capable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4195,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3820\/revisions\/4195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}