PICKENS PLAN CHARLESTON

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Comment by Joe Bellisario; 2009 District Leader on December 25, 2008 at 4:20am

The 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county. The district has historically been based in Charleston, and it currently also includes the major tourist destination of Myrtle Beach.

The district was once a Democratic stronghold, but has always had a somewhat conservative slant due to the heavy presence of the military (especially the Navy) in the region. After the end of Reconstruction, a Republican did not serve a full term in this district until Tommy Hartnett was swept in by Reagan's coattails in 1981. Most of Charleston's black voters were shifted to the 6th District in 1992, seemingly making this district unwinnable for the Democrats. However, in 2008, Linda Ketner came within six points of shifting this district back to the Democrats.

Henry Brown, a Republican, has represented this district since 2001.

Comment by Joe Bellisario; 2009 District Leader on December 18, 2008 at 3:32am

From the desk of T. Boone Pickens
Hey Army,

I’ve told you this all along — our addiction to foreign oil could bring us to our knees, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing we could do about it. Now take a look at today’s headlines. OPEC just announced it’s cutting production by 2.2 million barrels. Remember – this is on top of the 2 million barrels in cuts they’ve already made since this summer! These guys are serious about getting the price of oil back up right where they like it: $75 a barrel, $100 a barrel, $150 a barrel.

This is exactly why now is the time to pull together and Push the Pickens Plan. Every time the price of oil drops, America falls asleep. The Saudis don’t. The Iranians don’t. The Venezuelans don’t. But we do.

President-elect Obama said it best a few weeks ago on 60 Minutes. “Oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important, and we start, you know, filling up our SUVs again. And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It’s part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it.”

I couldn’t agree more. We’ve got to break that addiction now. Before it breaks us.

Click here to join your Pickens Plan District Group. Better yet, sign up to be the leader if there isn't one already so you can help bring in 500 more members to the New Energy Army in your Congressional District before Inauguration Day. Those first 100 days are right around the corner, and the way OPEC is playing we’re going to have to move fast.

-Boone

Comment by Ed Matricardi on December 5, 2008 at 1:49pm

As we approach the new year (and get ready for the new WH Administration & Congress), we are shifting gears to begin recruiting Pickens Plan District Leaders in every congressional district to help with activities in the coming months.

Please let me know if you are interested in serving as a District Leader in your area and I will get you additional information.

Thanks.

Comment by Ed Matricardi on November 24, 2008 at 9:19am

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20081124/OPINION/811240301/1008

Breaking imported oil addiction must be top priority
BY REP. JEFF DUNCAN • NOVEMBER 24, 2008

Here in the Southeast, we recently saw severe gas shortages because of Hurricane Ike. All along the I-85 corridor, you couldn't find stations with gas, and when you did, you paid a steep premium for it. It was reminiscent of the 1970s oil crisis. The problem is despite the falling gas prices today, we are still going to be in a modern day oil crisis.

During this election, you undoubtedly saw the ads featuring Texas wildcat oilman Boone Pickens talking about our nation's addiction to foreign oil. He does a very good job in laying out the problem. And unlike most elected officials in Washington, he has a plan to solve the problem: Use America's abundance of wind and natural gas to break us of our addition to foreign oil.

Today we import some 70 percent of the oil we consume and we pay approximately $700 billion per year for it. As a country, we spend as much as the Wall Street bailout is projected to cost every year on imported oil. And forecasts show that we will continue to import more going forward unless we do something to change it.

In Washington, the solution of the day is "drill here, drill now." While that may make a good bumper sticker slogan, I think it's shortsighted and misses the mark. Drilling is good, but we need a lot more than that.

We need to take advantage of every resource we have here at home to provide energy. This does include more drilling, but also needs to include using clean coal, increased use of natural gas for transportation, looking at nuclear and investing in renewable resources.

The Pickens Plan uses power generated with wind to replace power generated from natural gas. The natural gas that wouldn't be needed for power generation could then be used to fuel large truck and fleet vehicles like city buses, municipal trash trucks and even some big city taxi fleets. This will cut down on the amount of oil consumed and lower the amount we spend on importing oil.

What I like most about the Pickens Plan is that instead of continuing to send $700 billion per year overseas for oil, we can start to invest some of the savings the United States. By investing in wind, natural gas, solar, cellulosic ethanol and a whole host of other renewable technologies here in the United States, we are investing in our economy, our jobs and our future.

Here in South Carolina, we could reap the benefits of those new technologies and new jobs.

That's one reason I have signed the Pickens Energy Independence Pledge and urge my fellow elected officials at all levels of government to do the same at www.pickensplan.com. As elected officials we have to show true leadership on this issue if we are going to break our addiction to imported oil.

Pickens has been asked several times why someone at his age -- he's 80 years old, by the way -- would be spending as much time and money as he is on this. His answer is simple. It's not for him, it's for our children and grandchildren. If we don't do something to tackle this problem now, their standard of living is at risk.

I have children of my own, and completely understand his answer.

Comment by Ed Matricardi on November 22, 2008 at 8:28am

5 SC Mayors Sign Pickens Pledge for Energy Independence

To date, 168 Mayors across the nation have signed the Pickens Pledge, joining T. Boone Pickens’ national campaign to reduce foreign oil imports by utilizing abundant domestic resources including wind power and natural gas.

In SC, the following Mayors have signed the pledge:
http://www.pickensplan.com/news/2008/11/21/mayors/

Mary Clark, Mayor, Camden
Joseph Riley, Mayor, Charleston
Floyd Nicholson, Mayor, Greenwood
Kevin Johnson, Mayor, Manning
Doug Echols, Mayor, Rock Hill

If your Mayor is not on the list, contact their office today and urge them to sign the pledge for energy independence!

For a complete list of Mayors who have signed the pledge, please visit:
http://www.pickensplan.com/news/2008/11/21/mayors/

Thanks.

Comment by Ed Matricardi on October 31, 2008 at 9:35am

We need to deliver a copy of the Pickens Petition to both the Obama & McCain state HQs before Election Day...thus far, no one has stepped forward to volunteer in SC...please let me know who can take a couple of minutes to drop it off and send us pictures of the delivery that we can post on the website and use with media outreach. thanks!

Comment by Kellye Voigt on September 24, 2008 at 6:06pm

I'm in -- but there was such little response on the board that I kinda dropped it. My last idea was to write the Go Green coordinators and see if they wouldn't mind if we stood around the entrance and/or parking lot and asked people if they wanted to join. I was going to try and buy pencils with pickensplan.com to pass out to people since it was a "green" kind of advertisement, but I just didn't think I could do it alone. The fair is this weekend, so it may be too late??!! Maybe we could come up with a different idea?? I'm in if there's help. I have an 8 month old baby, and it's hard for me to take this on by myself. :(

Comment by Barbara on September 18, 2008 at 6:12am

I just realized I missed the Alt Energy meeting last night!! We had a schedule problem with extracurriculars.

Did anyone go?

Comment by Barbara on September 18, 2008 at 6:10am

I am so sorry have been out of touch with school starting back (we homeschool), but am happy to get back in the swing of things! I need to catch up b/c I have no idea what is going on.

The $500 is pricey- how many of us could put in for that? How many of us are there?
I would like to see who is available to attend and then form a game plan.
I hope I have not missed everything....

Comment by Carla Howard on September 15, 2008 at 5:21am

I look forward to meeting all of you at this weeks meeting to see how I can help to get the word out. The Green Fair sounds like a wonderful venue to grow members and support.

Carla

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