Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is spending 58 million dollars to advertise his energy plan on television. Although the plan has its critics, it’s pretty simple – and maybe workable.

Simply put Pickens proposes to reduce our dependence on foreign fuel by running cars on natural gas, which is abundant in the United States.

Natural gas makes up 22% of our power generation. Pickens says the transfer of natural gas to transportation would be possible by making up the difference with wind energy.

In 1973 during the OPEC oil crisis we were importing 24% of our fuel. Today we import 70%, equal to $700 billion dollars a year. Our automobiles consume 25% of the oil used throughout the world. 

A switch to natural gas would reduce our consumption of foreign oil by $300 billion a year. Pickens claims this is a short term fix that will provide time for us to explore alternative energy that is safe and clean. 

Holman W. Jenkins Jr., writing in the Wall Street Journal, claims Pickens’ plan is not a plan at all.  “He fails to mention any practical theory of how to get there,” says Jenkins. 

Pickens responds, “My father used to tell me that a fool with a plan is better than a genius with no plan.”

It's good that Pickens has added his voice to the energy debate. It's wrong, however, to focus on wind power as the best replacement for natural gas-fired electrical power generation.

This nation still has more coal than any other country. Unfortunately, we are increasingly selling it abroad rather than using it here at home. In March, the New York Times reported that "rising worldwide demand is turning American coal into another hot global commodity, with domestic buyers having to compete with buyers from countries like Germany and Japan."

According to the Times, it is expected that 7 to 8 percent of U.S. coal produced this year will be shipped overseas. In 2006, U.S. coal exports totalled 49 million tons. Last year that number rose to 59 million. In the coming years, U.S. coal exports are expected to reach upwards of 120 million tons, making American coal a key fuel in worldwide energy generation.

Because coal represents a more concentrated source of stored energy than does wind power, and because it is a readily available domestic fuel, it makes more sense to increase our use of coal for power generation here at home than it does to build ugly and dangerous wind farms and ship our coal to Germany, Japan or China.

Dr. John Fisher teaches communications and researches in the area of mass media and political decision making.

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