T. Boone Pickens went on Bloomberg to discuss the Pickens Plan:

Pickens claims that Koch is working for himself, while the pure hearted T. Boone Pickens is working for America. Now yes, Koch Industries has a financial incentive to not support federally built infrastructure for a fuel that competes with a product that he sells, but it also clearly aligns with a free-market perspective of not providing federal support for any particular energy sources. Furthermore, if it wasn’t obvious, Pickens would stand to make tons of money from increasing the use of natural gas in America, so its beyond disingenuous to pretend that he is solely “doing good.”

He takes a particular cheap shot in regard to ethanol. The Koch’s have repeatedly stated that they are against the ethanol program, but as refiners they are practically required to participate in order to stay competitive. They even fund numerous groups that have spent money in hopes of ending the ethanol tax credit (Pickens also hasn’t been following the news, as it seems the ethanol tax credit is likely going away). When Pickens resorts to taking cheap shots against opponents of his policy,  it seems clear that his proposals are without merit. When conservatives provide widespread support for the Pickens Plan, their resistance towards subsidizing other forms of energy is undermined.

Finally, Pickens claims that a transition towards fueling vehicles with Natural Gas vehicles is already underway for trucks, and that it is economical. If this is true, great, let the market work and get out of the way. It’s certainly is being used commonly in vehicles where centralized infrastructure can be used, such as city buses. Let us hope that the T. Boonedoggle Pickens plan does not move forward. CEI has written more about the plan here, here, here,  and here.