Natural Gas Magnate Launches Oil-Spending Website

T. Boone Pickens - owner of a network of natural gas fueling stations in the port and around the Southland - is steaming mad.

From the eccentric oil billionaire's viewpoint, America is a hopeless addict in desperate need of an intervention.

The drug: foreign oil.

"It is outrageous that we are sending billions of dollars-- $432,000 per minute-- overseas to foreign countries while domestic programs at home remain severely underfunded," Pickens said at a Tuesday morning press conference in the nation's capital. "This transfer of wealth is among the greatest in human history and is streaming revenue away from investment in our own communities into other countries, many of which are not our allies. These countries are taking our dollars and building beautiful state of the art schools, airports, roads, government buildings while our roads and bridges are full of holes, our schools remain in poor condition, and our infrastructure is in dire need of an upgrade."

 Pickens, whose Seal Beach-based company (Clean Energy) has invested millions in natural gas fueling stations across the region, today launched a website showing the volume and price tag of foreign oil imported each month into the U.S.

The site also promotes Pickens' preferred remedies: alternative fuels for transportation; wind, solar and tidal power for the electrical grid; more efficient vehicles for consumers and industry.

The end result, he argues, is a cleaner, safer America.

"The events of recent days in the Middle East, the comments of the Iranian leadership threatening an oil embargo to any country supporting Israel, the actions of the Russians to control the supply of natural gas and OPEC's decision to cut production should be a major reminder that when we import oil from these nations, we do not control our own destiny and we are vulnerable," Pickens said.