District of Columbia and White House

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Permalink Reply by Eric Lykins on September 25, 2008 at 3:11am

Bill Clinton chats with bloggers about Pickens Plan ...full story

Pickens
As for Pickens, Clinton gives him cred and props, “as an oil guy, Pickens is the one guy who hasn’t gone along with his industry line”. Clinton claims most other oil industry folks warn that clean tech remains too many years away from practical implementation. Clinton agrees with the “Pickens plan” in terms of maximizing wind power, but also believes that if we are to get out of gasoline, we need to go straight to plug in electric and not focus on compressed natural gas, excepting for truck fleets, and in developing nations. Per Clinton, air quality is so bad near the Taj Mahal that using natural gas can help enable visitors to see the Taj Mahal more clearly.

Continuing on this line, Clinton believes there should be subsidies for big vehicles to use natural gas while consumers should get tax credits for electric vehicles. WJC said most car trip are less than 25 miles and are at speeds less than 40mph, and electric vehicles can definitely fill this niche today. Energized, Bill exhorted loudly, “We need to get the show on road right now and use the clean tech that is available to us right now!” Catching his own enthusiasm, Bill smiled impishly and concluded, “well, aside from that I don’t have strong feelings”.

Permalink Reply by Eric Lykins on October 14, 2008 at 2:37am

Transcript of News Conference Following Today's Economic Forum
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI
Monday, October 13, 2008
..."Q Green-collar jobs: Is there any (inaudible) anything in there for energy?

Ms. Pelosi. As I mentioned before, as we tighten our belts; as we go into survival mode, which we must do, if we are going to strengthen our economy, we have to make some decisions that I think the American people see in a fresh new perspective.

We all know that we should reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We must eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

This is $700 billion and growing each year that we export to other countries, contributing to a horrible trade deficit. And that trade deficit has an impact on our economy.

So, for every reason, in terms of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuel and the rest, we should be doing it, it now is absolutely urgent that we do it now.

In terms of building the infrastructure of America, that is something that we all know that we have to do. The opportunity is there. In fact, we'll lose some opportunities if we don't act soon.

And as we do that, we will build the grid, which is part of the greening of America -- rebuild the grid. We'll do all those traditional things, mass transit, roads, bridges, et cetera, schools and housing and the rest.

Broadband. Broadband. Broadband -- so all of these things are about the future as we address the issue of infrastructure.

And wedding infrastructure and the reduction of dependence on foreign oil -- reducing our dependence on foreign oil, are closely related.

So we can do -- it comes together at a perfect time that we can do this in a way that creates good-paying jobs in America with an investment in innovation that makes that possible.

So our four priorities of health care -- this is a health issue in terms of the environment -- health -- the health of the American people; innovation to keep us number one -- to educate, innovate, compete, prevail and be number one; rebuild the infrastructure America, using that innovation; and doing so in a way that reduces our dependence on foreign oil.

It's all related. It will all create good-paying jobs in America, many of the green-collar jobs. And many of those green- collar jobs are also blue-collar jobs.

Permalink Reply by Eric Lykins on October 27, 2008 at 3:57am

Our Pickens Plan lobbyist in Washington, Paul Cummins

Permalink Reply by Eric Lykins on November 10, 2008 at 4:21am

New White House Chief of Staff Supports the Pickens Plan!

Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) is a BIG supporter of moving to natural gas generally and the Pickens Plan in particular. He introduced Boone at a town hall event in Chicago in October. In an interview posted on the Pickens Plan website on Sept. 30, 2008, Rep. Emanuel said,

I agree with the Pickens Plan to fuel more cars with natural gas. To reduce our oil consumption, we need to give American drivers a choice of how they fuel their cars; natural gas vehicles can help provide that choice. And I believe that an energy policy aimed at curbing our addition to oil will allow us to create new jobs, curb global warming, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Permalink Reply by Eric Lykins on November 13, 2008 at 2:55am

Natural gas has a friend in the White House, Chief of Staff Rahm Em...

Tom Price, a senior vice president at Chesapeake, the nation's largest distributor of natural gas, said Thursday that it "could be quite advantageous” to have Emanuel in the White House when Obama is crafting an energy policy.

Price said Emanuel knows the issues surrounding natural gas — including its abundance and benefits for the environment and the economy — "as well as or better than anyone I can think of who’s been put into the position of (White House) chief of staff.”