Oil Tycoon Places $10 Billion Bet on Earth

T. Boone Pickens Gets Serious About the Environment

July 16, 2008 - One of the nation's most successful oil tycoons believes the answer to the current energy crisis is just a gust away — literally. Legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, right, at a gathering of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas during Oct. 2007 in Houston.

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is building the world's largest wind farm in Texas, where windswept, wide-open spaces are an untapped, powerful resource. "I don't see it as that complicated," said Pickens, who's been in the oil business his whole life. "The way I feel about the oil business, there's no question, we're in decline in the United States."

It's a decline on which he's placing a large bet. He said with $10 billion, he can help turn it around. The new farm will cover 400,000 acres and provide power for as many as 1.2 million homes. More>>>