T. Boone Pickens on Al Gore for Energy Czar

In a podcast by Tammy Haddad for National Journal On Air T. Boone Pickens spoke about his "Pickens Plan" and his ideas to solve the "energy issue". It seems the state of Texas has agreed to a $4.9 billion plan to build new transmission lines into the "wind corridor" where he intends to build enormous wind farms. Mr. Pickens said that:

They're going to build these lines and extend it into the wind area – which is up in the panhandle of Texas – which will be very helpful for us.

In the interview Mr. Pickens revealed that 2 months ago he suggested to President George W. Bush that there should be an "Energy Czar" who should be "given the tools to get the job done". When Tammy asked Mr. Pickens what he made of Al Gore's speech on Thursday he said that:

I know it. I know Al's plan. I talked to him last week, and we talked for over an hour about energy, and I think both of us have the same concerns about the country. Al is not big on natural gas. He wants to go to the electric car, and I think you have to bridge to the electric car, and natural gas is ready to go now. We have an abundance of natural gas — it's cheap, it's clean — so you could put it into the transportation fuel very fast. He doesn't like hydrocarbons, and I know where he comes from; it's global warming that he's focused on, and I'm more focused on the $700 billion figure.

Tammy then asked Mr. Pickens "If Obama wins the election, should Al Gore go in and be the energy czar?" After some hesitation Mr. Pickens replied that:

In that case, I think I would be for Al Gore for energy czar.

Later in the interview Tammy also asked Mr. Pickens "Wait a minute, though, because part of the food crisis is being blamed on the fact that so much of corn is going towards ethanol". Mr. Pickens replied:

OK, don't do it then. I'd rather eat than drive my car.

The full transcript of the interview is available on NationalJournal.com