July 8th, 2009 is the first anniversary of the Pickens Plan. T. Boone Pickens’ Pickens Plan aims to invest some 1 trillion dollars of his own money to build wind turbine farms for power generation. This in turn will free up the natural gas currently being used for power generation to be shifted to supplying CNG-powered trucks and heavy equipment, Mr. Pickens believes.

By doing so, he advocates, 22% of U.S. electricity needs will be provided by wind power in 10 years (under the right leadership,) freeing up natural gas for use in CNG vehicles converted from gasoline.

According to his website pickensplan.com,

America is blessed with the world’s greatest wind power corridor and abundant reserves of clean natural gas. The Pickens Plan will utilize these tremendous resources to build a bridge to the future – a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives and buying time for us to develop even greater new technologies.

To help further the Pickens Plan, today U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced new legislation that would boost vehicles that run on clean natural gas. The NAT GAS Act, introduced today by Menendez and co-sponsored by Reid and Hatch, would extend and increase tax credits for natural gas vehicles and refueling. T. Boone Pickens was also present at the NAT GAS Act announcement. Read more on the Senate Bill 1408, the NAT GAS Act bill.

While there have been some program setbacks, Mr. Pickens says his plan is on track. Here’s an interviewing of T. Boone Pickens on the status of the Pickens Plan, courtesy CNN.com.

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