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business newsThe Future of America's Energy Sector
By
Josh Lipton Apr 27, 2010 7:30 am
What top names were saying about oil and coal at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
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Yesterday, the panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference that had the ballroom jam-packed involved a discussion between T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner about American's energy future.
Michael Milken, who moderated the discussion, reminded us why we should care about the Energy sector: It has now passed Education, he noted, as the second largest sector of our economy. Question before the House: What percentage, do you think, of our oil now comes from foreign sources?
Today, says Milken, it is 66.2%.
Pickens made it clear that we "have got to get on our own resources." He added that our president had committed himself to just that objective but, "I'm not sure he had a plan."
Turner added that a decision by this country to rely on clean and renewable energy will generate financial, economic, and environmental security, and reminded the audience that "this is where the big money will be made." To continue to rely on oil and coal for our energy needs, Turner said, was simply an outdated approach.
"It is time to move on," said the media mogul, adding that there are no negatives to transitioning to cleaner and more Mother Earth-friendly forms of energy "except for the coal and oil lobbies."
However, his friend Boone countered that coal still does generate 52% of our power needs and that "we are stuck with coal for awhile." He also told the audience that he wasn't as optimistic that real energy reform would come out of Washington anytime soon. He said policymakers inside the Beltway are now more interested in tackling immigration reform as the next big item on the agenda, rather than energy, so he has been told.
He concluded the discussion by noting that China has spent $200 billion in just the past 18 months to further its plans and ambitions of energy independence as a nation. "These people have a plan," he said. "We have no plan. Washington doesn't get it."
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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