In 2004, T. Boone Pickens invested his money in trashing John Kerry and helping doom us to four more years via Swift Boat Veterans for Truthiness.
In 2008, T. Boone Pickens is investing his money in trashing our opportunity for a sensible energy future.
In 2008, T. Boone Pickens is attempting to buy a yes vote on Proposition 10 which would return $100s of millions (probably billions) into his pockets via mass (over) subsidy of natural gas trucks.
Californians ... Prop 10 is not good environmentally, not good for energy security, not good fiscally ... except, that is, for T Boone.
Pickens is now at $19 million (that can be tracked) expended in support of Proposition 10. The Consumer Federation of California has about $150k to oppose this (along with efforts of some environmental organizations).
For a great background and discussion of Prop 10, see
Pickens trying to pick Californians' pockets at the excellent (and critically important) Climaticide Chronicles:
California´s Proposition 10 ballot measure (full text here PDF) is funded exclusively by Pickens´s company, Clean Energy Fuels Corp., via a Pickens front group with the deceptive name of Californians for Clean and Renewable Energy ...
This measure would authorize the sale of $5 billion in general fund bonds to provide alternative energy rebates and incentives -- but by the time the principal and the interest is paid off, it would squander at least $9.8 billion in taxpayer money on Pickens' self-serving natural gas agenda.
The initiative deceptively reads like it's supporting all alternative-fuel vehicles and renewable energy sources. But a closer read finds a laundry list of cash grabs
According to the California Progress Report
If you want cleaner air, you'll be disappointed by Prop 10. The initiative does nothing to ratchet up existing clean air requirements. Remarkably, Prop 10 defines "clean alternative" vehicles to exclude hybrids and to include natural gas powered vehicles, provided their emissions are no worse than the maximum pollution levels already required for gasoline or diesel powered vehicles. That's a neat trick: re-label the status quo as clean and you qualify for a big tax handout - provided, of course, you fill up at Mr. Pickens' natural gas stations.
JohnnyRook concludes:
Proposition 10 is so bad that it is opposed not only by environmental and consumer groups, but also by the California Chamber of Commerce, which publicly announced it´s opposition ...
The simple fact is that T. Boone Pickens is still what he´s always been: a flim-flam man on the grandest of scales.
The latest slick effort: an attempt to confuse people into thinking that Barack Obama supports Proposition 10.
The list of organizations signed up against Proposition 10 is extensive and compelling from Sierra Club to CARS (Consumers for Automobile Reliability and Safety ) to the California Taxpayers Association (Cal-Tax) to the California Chamber of Commerce to the California Labor Federation. When labor and business are combined along with the environmental organizations, perhaps it is time to listen. And, note all the newspapers that have signed up as well.
Simply put: California, the nation, and the globe will be better off if Californians unite to say NO to Proposition 10.
Beyond Proposition 10 and the flim-flam of The Pickens' Plan
We've all seen them, no? T. Boone Pickens staring out of the TV, speaking about how no one else has a plan, and that he has the plan to save the nation from its oil addiction. The flim-flam man working his mischief. For anyone interested in learning more about the weaknesses and issues of The Pikens' Plan, here is a short list of valuable discussions:
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: T Boone Pickens, 8/26, A Siegel
Pickens' Plan vs Pickens' Problem, 8/21, A Siegel
Picking at Pickens' Plan, 7/8, A Siegel
The Big Green Tent, 8/24, A Siegel
T. Boone Pickens Loves You and Wants to Use Your Credit Card, 8/30, JohnnyRook
T Boone Pickens trying to pick Californians Pockets, 9/9, JohnnyRook
T Boone Pickens Fancy Sales Pitch, 8/27, Plutonium Page
Is T Boone Pickens selling you shinola, or something else?, 8/26, ApolloGonzales
Sarah Palin and Boone Pickens: Birds of a Feather, 10/7, Josh Nelson
Memo to T Boone Pickens: Your energy plan is half-baked, 7/8, Joe Romm, Climate Progress (former Assistant Secretary Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, DOE)
Why T Boone Pickens' 'Clean Energy' Plan is a Ponzi Scheme, 8/21, Scott Thill
Pickens' Natural Gas Plan Makes No Sense and will never happen, 9/26, Earl Killian
Mr Pickens Half-Right Plan, 7/25, Bill Becker, Presidential Climate Action Plan