Thursday, March 19, 2009

How Mad Is John McCain?


 Let me start by making it clear that John McCain is not mad at me. In fact, during our conversation yesterday he was rather polite and thoughtful. But it seems clear that he is indeed mad. Quite mad. At the Obama Administration.

 Comparing our experiences over recent weeks, our executive editor Margaret Ryan and I concluded that from what we've seen, Sen. McCain has taken every opportunity to just hammer administration officials during hearings. The trend continued at the Senate Energy Committe's hearing on nuclear energy development. This time Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Dale Klein was in the crosshairs.

 Sen. McCain, like many other committee members who attended the hearing, wanted to complain about the White House "taking Yucca Mountain off the table." First, some background. More than 20 years ago, Congress designated Yucca as the nation's nuclear waste repository. "The" repository, as in, "The one and only place within the U.S. that we have for long-term storage!" But that law has not stopped Senate majority leader Harry Reid from doing what he can to keep the waste our of his home state (Nevada). And it didn't stop the current administration from declaring Yucca Mountain as essentially a non-viable site.


 Now, Sen. McCain pressed Klein on the issue, asking him, "Are you operating under the assumption that Yucca Mountain will become a reality?" When Klein didn't respond directly, McCain asked again with emphasis, "Are you operating under the assumption that Yucca Mountain will become a reality?" Eventually, Klein said, "We are not counting on Yucca Mountain being successful." So there.

 Then, Sen. McCain honed in on security issues. His point? Having dozens and dozes of dry-cask storage sites across the country poses a much greater security risk than having a single, well-guarded site for nuclear waste. But, as he said to needle the Obama administration, "that's not gonna happen."

 While we're talking Nuclear with a capital N, Dale Klein shared a few predictions during his testimony and afterward during a conversation outside the hearing room. He expects all 104 U.S. reactors to be successfully relicensed and still operating in the 20 years. The first new reactor to come online will most likely be Southern Company's Vogtle unit in Georgia. And there is no way any new reactor will be providing any electricity generation before the year 2016. So sit tight if you're clamoring for a low-carbon economy.

 Interestingly, Sen McCain initially said that he didn't have time for my questions as he left the hearing room in DOB at a brisk walk. But not three seconds passed before he promptly stopped dead in his stride, performed a 180, and said that, sure, he could answer a few of my questions about the hearing. Oh, and after out interview the senator actually apologized to me for being rude. 

 He's not a Virginian by birth, but the senior senator from Arizona has always acted like A Gentlemen during our conversations.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Preaching The Pickens Plan





Yep, that's a pic of me and T. Boone himself. And, hey, which one of us did you recognize first? No, that's not a question born out of personal insecurity. But while we're on the topic, how does my make-up look, anyway?

For all of his billions of dollars, his runaway financial success and energy-field endeavors, and his profile as the nation's record-breaking university donor, did you know who T. Boone Pickens was nine months ago, much less what he looked like? Hell, I know someone who covers energy for a living and thought the man's name was actually "T-Bone." Pickens is from Texas, cattle country, after all.

Well, that's what a $60-million p.r. campaign (his number) can do for you. With the unfurling of The Pickens Plan last summer, Boone has introduced himself to the nation at large. And now you Oklahomans and Wall Street Watchers aren't the only ones to tilt your heads toward him when he's speaking.

The basics? I'd be surprised if you don't know them already, given all the nightly news appearances and newspaper editorials. Still, he reiterated them (and to some extent reworked the emphasis) during this week's speech at the EnergyBiz Leadership Forum here in DC.

Boone wants Wind energy to generate 22% of our nation's electricity. Got that, 22%? The EIA says in 2006 wind accounted for a little more than one-quarter of 1% of U.S. energy consumption.

According to Pickens, what we need is new transmission lines (many, many, many new lines) to carry the electricity from turbines to customers. And he's right. When you see federal funding bills for new transmission this year, you can bet Wind is one of the driving factors. Lately, he has added some Solar to this part of his plan.

The other half of Pickens' preaching seems more easily attainable to me. Use Natural Gas as a bridge fuel for transportation. Get us off of foreign oil and carry us for a few decades until we have commercially-viable vehicle battery technology. As the saying goes, Natural Gas is "Affordable, Abundant, and American."

Plus, Boone has an influential advocate in the White House. No, not him. When Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was in the upper echelons of Democratic House leadership, he supported Natural Gas as a transportation fuel. Apparently, Rahm even inserted language supporting the infrastructure transition in the Dems' stalled House energy bill last year. Boone is tweaking this part of the pitch a bit, now emphasizing Natural Gas for the commercial sector.

And, lo and behold, just today AT&T announced it's going with Natural Gas, spending $565 million over a decade on 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles ($350 million of which will buy 8,000 compressed natural gas vehicles). An article on Fortune.com says, "...the purchase is smart economics.

Back to the pic with Boone and, yes, Cowboy fans, I'm wearing a black suit with an orange tie. And, well, OK I'll admit it...I always wear orange and black when I know I'll be interviewing Boone. As much as he enjoys talking about The Pickens Plan, my best conversations with him inevitably seem to involve Oklahoma State athletics.

By the way, Boone tells me the Cowboys' Holiday Bowl loss to Oregon is the one game from last season that bothers him the most. And did you know QB Zac Robinson sustained a concussion and a separated shoulder? So says Boone. The Cowboys' home stadium does bear his name, after all.

CNN Money posted the Fortune.com article here: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/green/2009_03_11_att_to_make_massive_natural_gas_vehicle_purchase.html

And the Washington Post's Dana Milbank ran a biting commentary on Boone's recent speech at EnergyBiz. Keep in mind that Pickens made many of these quoted comments in tongue-in-cheek fashion. Understanding a little bit about Boone's Texas and Oklahoma roots, I like to think I got the jokes:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030902463.html

Finally, here's a look ahead at Pickens' beloved OSU Cowboys' 2009 schedule:
http://www.okstate.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=200&KEY=&SPID=143&SPSID=1420