Add one more voice to the chorus weighing in on the energy arguments made by President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney during Tuesday night’s debate.
T. Boone Pickens, who built Mesa Petroleum into one of the world’s largest independent oil companies before branching out into natural gas and wind energy, has issued his own verdict.
He wants more details.
“President Obama and Governor Romney finally gave us a spirited debate on their views on the subject,” he said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
Pickens, who since 2008 has pushed The Pickens Plan, an effort to reduce the United States’ dependence on imported oil, noted there will be plenty of “so-called energy-experts” offering fact-checking.
“That will be a healthy debate in and of itself,” he said.
Pickens didn’t directly side with a particular candidate, although he said Romney “demonstrated a deeper understanding of energy by pointing out that replacing imported oil with domestic fuels would — and should — create a major positive contribution to our economy and create jobs. Another bright spot was his call for a North American Energy Alliance. That can be a critical element of a national energy strategy going forward.”
He said he liked Obama’s emphasis on developing renewable energy, but said he “oversold what they will do to address the OPEC oil threat. … They won’t move 18-wheelers.”
And Pickens ended his statement with a push for natural gas-powered vehicles. “Once you get the 8.5 million trucks and fleet vehicles on domestic natural gas, you have an option to rethink your Middle East foreign policies,” he said.
