T. Boone Pickens remains darned upset about U.S. oil usage

Mr. T. Boone Pickens (photo as a child at right), the Texan who made billions in the oil industry and created the Pickens Army in 2008 to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, issued a press release Friday (Feb. 6) saying U.S. oil purchases are helping build new infrastructure for foreign companies while U.S. infrastructure crumbles.

“Domestic Traffic Worsens While Other Nations Zoom Down Glistening Highways” was the headline of the press release Pickens issued following a conference in Houston that focused on the bad Houston roads and bridges.

Using federal statistics, Pickens said Americans sent $17 billion in oil payments overseas in January. He said 67.4% of all oil used in the U.S. is delivered from other countries.

(The City Wire editorial note: Pickens failed to mention that Canada is the top exporter of oil — about 20% of our total imports — to the U.S., with some of that oil produced by U.S.-based companies.)

Pickens’ release contained several interesting notes. They verbatim notes, which harped on a self-evident theme, include:

• The U.S. has become even more dependent on the Middle East for oil as overall oil imports from Mexico have been on a steady decline and will soon be non-existent, placing additional revenue in the hands of American enemies.

• America’s dependence on foreign oil is streaming revenue away from domestic projects and into other countries, many of which are our enemies. Oil rich nations are reaping the benefits of this great transfer of wealth to build state-of-the-art roads while the U.S. struggles on congested roads and collapsing highways and bridges.

• Importantly, oil importing nations are using U.S. dollars and are allocating increased funds for transportation and creating miles of new roads annually.

• In 2007, Russia announced plans to build 2,500 miles of new roads annually by 2010 and to invest $437.9 billion in its rail network by 2030. Russia plans to spend $1.1 trillion on infrastructure by 2015.

• In Qatar’s budget for 2008/2009, the government allocated $8.4 billion for roads (76 percent of total funds allocated for development projects) and 32 percent of total budgetary spending.

• “My fear is that domestic traffic will worsen while nations abroad zoom down glistening, brand-new highways unless we act now to become more energy independent and stop this transfer of wealth. The Pickens Plan can get us there,” Pickens noted.