CNBC.com Article: Oil Price Not Driven by Speculation: Pickens

DATE: July 8, 2008
TO: Boone Pickens on CNBC's Squawkbox
SUBJECT: Industrial Wind development in the United States
FROM: Jim Sawicki
jim@flmm.net
Canandaigua, NY

1) Please explain how industrial wind power will reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil when most of the oil is used for transportation vehicles including personal, freight, airlines, recreational, business, etc…

2) What are your thoughts on all the proposed United States industrial wind development outside the Texas to Canada corridor, especially the Northeast?

3) Concerning health and safety issues, what are your minimum setback recommendations? What recourse do landowners have if noise levels, including subsonic vibrations cause health problems? How will you ensure that stray electricity does no harm to humans or livestock? What is your plan to protect nearby homes and businesses from increased lightning strikes due to the incredible height of the industrial turbines?

4) What is your backup plan for electricity generation when the wind does not blow?

5) How will people close to these industrial machines be compensated when their property values fall and the quality of a quiet rural life they chose is compromised?

6) In your plan, you mention constructing a 4000MW facility. Is it correct to assume this 4000MW figure is RATED CAPACITY? If so, what are true net projections for actual electricity generation of your development? In your “corridor”, do you expect to achieve ratings higher than the typical very poor averages of only 20% to 30% of rated capacity?

7) Do you now live or plan to live within close proximity of industrial wind turbines? If so, how close? If not, why?

8) What are your plans for geothermal?

Thank you, for your time, Boone.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Sawicki