The second U.S. presidential candidate debate is tonight, and it's likely that energy policy will come up in some fashion. Central casting's best-named oil man, T. Boone Pickens, wants to make sure the debate starts a bigger discussion on energy use in America and so he is hosting an "online rally" tonight during and following the debate. Barack Obama and John McCain are scheduled to being a 9 p.m. EST, and that's when the rally starts as well.

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope will join Pickens for a rally that "will feature live video from Pickens Plan HQ in Dallas and you will have an opportunity to submit questions and comments about America's energy future." Pickens unveiled his self-titled Pickens Plan - big on wind energy and natural gas - in July and he laid out his political attitude for 2008 when we heard him speak back in May. Let's just say that Mr. Swift Boat wants John McCain to win, but is much less partisan this time around than he was in 2004. Since both McCain and Obama have met privately with Pickens this year, we can take serious his group's statement that, "We will be delivering a copy of your questions and comments to both Presidential candidates, so don't miss this opportunity to lend your voice to the call for American energy independence!" I'll take a pass on the "rally" tonight, but if you join up, I'd like to hear your report in the comments section.

[Source: Pickens Plan]

If you listened to or read our post on T. Boone Pickens speaking at the AFVI Expo in May, then you know that he's a big proponent of wind power and natural gas (some say he needs to learn more about hydrogen cars). Mr. Swift Boat is all over the media today because of an announcement regarding something called "The Plan," Pickens' big new idea to shift some of the $700b the U.S. spends each year on foreign oil into increasing domestic energy production. Unsurprisingly, Pickens says that wind and natural gas are the ways to go. Maybe this is what he meant when he said he wanted to be a player in the fall election.

Pickens spoke to NPR this morning about The Plan, which includes installing 2,500 wind turbines in Texas to deal with Peak oil (The Plan website says that happened in 2005). As for natural gas, Pickens says it should win as a power source for vehicles because it is cheaper than gas, abundant and domestic.

If you need a jolt of irony with your lunch today, check this out. Pickens told NPR that, "The mistake was made because we didn't have the leadership that stepped up and said, 'We cannot continue to import foreign oil.'" One reason no one stepped might be that people like Pickens invested a lot in oil companies looking for oil in foreign lands. Sheesh. h/t to Dave B.

[Source: Pickens Plan, NPR]

Andrew Littlefair (left) and T. Boone Pickens in Las Vegas in May

There was a lot of interest in my post about oil (and wind and natural gas) man T. Boone Pickens' presentation at the AFVI Expo last month. So, when I saw a new press release titled, "Boone Pickens: U.S. in Energy Crisis," I figured there was good reason to read it and maybe write about it. Turns out, yeah, there was.

Pickens wasn't exactly upbeat about the U.S. energy situation last month, and when he gave a speech to the Oil and Gas Investor's Energy Capital Forum in Houston earlier this week, he said the situation was at crisis level. It's so bad that it should be the most important issue of this fall's (and summer's) presidential campaign, he said. Pickens, who supports Republican candidate John McCain over Barack Obama (but acknowledged that McCain's whole summer gas tax holiday idea was wrong), said he's going to use his clout to "force this [a discussion on energy] into this campaign. We'll see if I have the credibility to force it into the debate." One way is by spending some of his billions on running energy issues ads on TV in the coming months.

There are some choice Pickens quotes in the release pasted after the break. Basically, Pickens believes, high gas prices are a good thing, as they're finally forcing people to change their mindset. Click through for more.

Greg Blencoe likes to start an Internet challenge. The CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries, Inc. wants to make it clear to anyone who will listen that hydrogen fuel cells are the right direction for vehicles to take. Last year, Blencoe made a bet with Joseph Romm, the author of "The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact And Fiction In The Race To Save The Climate," about when hydrogen cars would make up one percent of the U.S. new car market (Blencoe said 2015, Romm wins if its 2016 or later). The provocateur now wants to take T. Boone Pickens to hydrogen school.

Pickens, as you will remember if you listened to his 45-minute presentation at the AFVI Expo, knows a thing of two about a thing or two about gas prices and the end of cheap gasoline. Pickens has made his oil alternative investments in things like wind energy and CNG. Blencoe doesn't think that Pickens has spoken about hydrogen cars in a while (but we know that at the AFVI show, Pickens said that CNG is a bridge to hydrogen) and so has come up with a list of ten important items Pickens needs to know about hydrogen cars. Blencoe says that Pickens doesn't have an "accurate view" of hydrogen vehicles and if he'd just read this post, he'd change his tune. Hm.

[Source: Hydrogen Discoveries]

Andrew Littlefair (left) and T. Boone Pickens

The majority of the attendees at the AFVI Expo's Fleet Day breakfast keynote seemed quite pleased to listen to T. Boone Pickens (just like last year). Pickens is the founder of BP Capital Management and had a sit-down discussion with Andrew Littlefair, the president and CEO of Clean Energy. Why do AFVI folks like this guy? He's got a lot of information (he's made billions in the oil and energy industry) and he sees a way to power the future (he's made a huge investment in wind power in Texas, for example. Littlefair said that without Boone, there wouldn't be an NGV industry in the U.S.

A few choice quotes:

• "We are importing 72 percent of our oil. ... We are now transferring $600 billion [a year] out of the United States to a few friends and a hell of a bunch of enemies. I can tell you, we are paying for the war against ourselves."
• "If they [China] had the Olympics today, in this smog, and ran the 100 meter dash, it would have to be a relay."
• "Diesel will never sell, again, below gasoline. It will always be more expensive than gasoline."
• "We're actually dealing with a huge shift of capital out to somewhere. We're going to be reduced to - I promise you it's going to happen pretty quick, too - we'll be reduced to something less than the superpower that we are."

Much more from Boone (including audio of his chat) after the break.