AT&T to Make Major Investment in Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles
AT&T announced on Wednesday that it would be deploying around 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles over the next 10 years. AT&T plans to spend $565 million total, with $350 million of it devoted to purchasing about 8,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. This will make AT&T the single largest corporate user of CNG vehicles in the world.
T. Boone Pickens, who has been advocating a transformative shift from oil to natural gas for commercial cars and trucks, and also owns Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which is the largest provider of CNG for transportation in the North America, exclaimed, “I believe this is going to be a big momentum play. When other fleet operators put their transportation teams on this, you’re going to see a major shift away from imported diesel and onto domestic natural gas.”
Pickens Enthusiastic About Renewable Components of Stimulus Bill
One of the biggest private proponents of clean energy, T. Boone Pickens, has weighed in on the $787 billion stimulus bill and appears to be generally excited about its provisions. In a letter to supporters of his Pickens Plan he highlighted the following provisions as being key to growing our wind energy capacity:
- A 3-year Production Tax Credit (PTC) extension through the end of 2012;
- An option to elect a 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in place of the PTC;
- An option to convert the Investment Tax Credit into a grant for projects placed in service in 2009, or 2010, or placed in service before 2013 provided construction begins in 2009 or 2010;
- A new $6 billion Department of Energy renewable energy and transmission loan guarantee program, which should fund around $60 billion in principal amount of guaranteed loans;
- Authority for the Western Area Power Administration to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the Treasury to build renewable transmission lines in the western United States, including western Texas.
It is clear from the above list that Pickens has made some significant progress on the wind energy half of his Plan. However, his more controversial natural gas proposals were not directly addressed by the stimulus.
Pickens Discusses Energy Components of the Stimulus Package
T. Boone Pickens appeared on CNBC on Monday and discussed the stimulus plan. Pickens seemed to be generally enthusiastic about the energy policies the plan contains, noting “We got a lot in on wind and renewables. You’re going to have the grid in it, and that’s important to the whole system; that’s the infrastructure that we need.”
[Note: unfortunately CNBC doesn't allow this video to be embedded so you need to click through to view it.]
Pickens: Oil to Hit $75 by End of Year
T. Boone Pickens predicted on Monday that oil prices would be back above $60 per barrel within two months and at $75 by the end of the year. Pickens is not alone in his anticipation of a future oil spike, as he is joined by both oil traders who have been buying up oil to be sold in the future, as well as history, which dictates that although oil may go down, it always comes back up.
“We got a break here, a little bit of breather, but within 60 days we’ll be back up to $60 oil and by end of year we’ll be on our way … at $75,” Pickens noted.
Of course, Obama has warned that we need to avoid falling into the regular shock and trance cycle with oil prices, and hopefully Congress will send him an energy package that substantively addresses this classic problem.
Recovery Plan’s Renewable Energy Tax Credits and Incentives Debated in Senate Committee
The Senate Finance Committee began debating on Tuesday the alternative energy portion of the recovery plan. The House version of the package cleared the Ways and Means Committee last week. This portion of the plan is expected to have around $30 billion in tax credits and incentives to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy production.
Both versions of the bill would extend wind energy credits through 2012, and extend similar credits for biomass, geothermal, small irrigation, hydropower, landfill gas and tidal energy power would be extended through 2013. READ MORE
Delays Continue for Pickens’ Texas Panhandle Wind Farm
Apparently the delays for T. Boone’s massive wind farm project in the Texas panhandle are not going to end anytime soon. Earth2Tech reports that at the Clean Tech Investor Summit on Wednesday, Pickens said that his wind farm would likely be delayed at least to 2011. But that even then, Pickens warned, “We’ll see what happens in 2-3 years.”
Earth2Tech notes that although the credit crisis has put a damper on Pickens’ own wind farm project, he is still pushing hard for the country to adopt the Pickens Plan, reiterating his argument that with a $28 billion investment, the U.S. could convert 350,000 diesel trucks to natural gas, which would reduce oil imports by 5% and create nearly half a million jobs.
T. Boone vs. FedEx vs. Exxon Mobile (LNG vs Batteries vs Oil)
Environmental Capital reports that a mini-feud between Boone Pickens and FedEx has broken out recently. FedEx CEO Fred Smith fundamentally disagrees with Pickens that shifting long-haul trucks from diesel to natural gas is the right move. Instead, Smith argues that hybrids are a better solution, and has backed up this belief by leading FedEx’s transformation to the largest commercial fleet of hybrid trucks in North America.
EC notes that:
“[FedEx's] director of sustainability, Mitch Jackson, upped the ante on Sunday with a blog item blasting natural gas as transport fuel of the future. After citing a list of reasons against using natural gas instead of diesel, Mr. Jackson concludes that “substituting one fossil fuel for another may mean we’re shifting our energy supply, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going anywhere.” READ MORE
T. Boone is Back!
Our friend Boone Pickens (“the man with the plan”) has released a new commercial and message. His message echoes many of our recently expressed concerns about rising gas prices and the lessons to be taken from the current Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute. The entirety of his message is printed below:
San Francisco Taxis to use Pickens’ Natural Gas to Fuel Fleet
Yellow Cab, the largest taxi company in San Francisco has awarded a 10 year contract to Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) to its recently expanded natural gas station near the intersection of Cesar Chavez St. and Interstate 280, a few miles south of downtown.
Yellow Cab, which operates 100 natural gas powered taxis, will also be opening this station, located at 1200 Mississippi St., to the public 24/7. The station is equipped to dispense 1,000 gallons of CNG per hour, which would make it the largest CNG taxi station in the U.S.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., founded by T. Boone Pickens, runs 170 CNG stations in North America. It also operates two liquid natural gas (LNG) production plants, one in Willis, TX and one in Boron, CA, with a currently combined capacity of 260,000 of LNG per day. CEFC also owns and operates a landfill gas facility in Dallas, TX that produces renewable methane gas or biogas.
Pickens ‘anxious’ about wind farm project
Pickens held a briefing with reporters on Monday where he discussed the status of his massive Texas Panhandle wind farm project, as well as the state of energy, in general.
Regarding the Panhandle project, Pickens said that he is “anxious” since the economic and credit crises threaten to choke off financing for the project. “Where’s the money is the question. I don’t know how we’ll do it. I’m anxious to see what Obama comes up with. There is no money to finance a wind project now,” Pickens stated.
Pickens reiterated his warning that when the economy rebounds, prices will spike again, potentially even to $100 by next year. He also said that Obama’s policies will play a key role in determining whether efforts to effect an energy transformation will occur. Specifically, extending tax credits for alternative energy and promoting natural gas usage for heavy duty vehicles will be essential.
Earlier this year, Pickens’ company Mesa Power began the first phase of the Panhandle wind farm by purchasing over 600 wind turbines. While the future of that project is somewhat up in the air, as Pickens noted, “We don’t receive turbines until late 2010, so you’ve got some time for a recovery and we’ll see where we go from there.”
Could gas hit $1 a gallon? Party like it’s 1972!
With global demand continuing to decline, some energy analysts are predicting the price of oil will bottom around $25 a barrel with $1 a gallon of gas. Oil closed on Monday at $43.71 a barrel, with average gasoline prices at $1.70, the lowest since February 2004.
Oil held steady yesterday on the hopes that the Obama stimulus package could restore demand and that OPEC might bring additional production cuts. READ MORE
Pickens on Meet the Press
Pickens: “I’ll make you a $10 bet… that we’ll be back to $100 [per barrel] a year from now.”
Attn. Pickens and Friedman fans:
Both will be on Meet the Press this Sunday. Pickens will, not surprisingly, be discussing energy policy, and Friedman will be on a panel discussing the economy and the transition to the Obama White House.
Hat-tip: TV Guy
T. Boone Pickens on The Daily Show
T. Boone gives his best interview yet.
The rumors are true: Pickens to place wind projects on hold
Apparently the rumors that Pickens was preparing to put his plans to build the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle on hold are true. Pickens says that wind energy is not a competitive investment in the present market, since natural gas is a direct competitor to wind energy, and the price of it has fallen dramatically over recent months.
As a result, Pickens has decided to put his massive planned wind farm on hold until energy prices rebound. This comes on the heels of his decision to halt work on a plan to build new transmission lines that would have linked his wind farm with Texas population centers. READ MORE
