By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

LINCOLN -- Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens brought his $58 million campaign to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil to Nebraska on Wednesday and, by all indications, the "Pickens Plan'' was a big hit.

"I think he's right,'' said Jack Draper, 82, of Lincoln.

"We need someone of his national stature to jump start the politicians in Washington,'' said Draper's friend, Gary Million.

"At least it's better than doing nothing, which is what we've been doing all along,'' Million said.

Pickens, perhaps best known in Nebraska for giving $165 million to improve athletic programs at his alma mater, Oklahoma State, spoke to an overflow crowd of 1,350 at the Lancaster Event Center.

The mostly middle-age and male throng laughed at his jokes, signed up to get his Pickens Plan e-mails, called him a "patriot,'' and even shouted "amen'' when Pickens blamed Washington's lack of leadership in seeking alternative energy sources.

"You say 'amen' to that, but we're all to blame,'' Pickens said.

Every American president in recent decades, he said, has promised "energy independence'' but failed to deliver it. "Cheap oil,'' Pickens said, was also to blame for diverting attention, and funds, from developing alternatives.

His plan would utilize natural gas, which is plentiful in the U.S., for semitrailer trucks and other fleet vehicles and tap wind energy, building hundreds of wind farms from Texas to Canada, to cut imports of foreign oil in half in a decade.

A quick way to reduce imports, Pickens said, would be to mandate that all new fleet cars for the federal government be natural-gas powered. "That would send a signal to the big three (auto manufacturers),'' he said.

The plan would require a massive expansion of electric transmission and national gas delivery infrastructure -- there are currently no natural gas pumps available to the public in Nebraska or Iowa, for instance. But Pickens said that his plan would bring thousands of jobs to the population-drained Great Plains and, despite its tremendous cost, prove to be an economic winner.

Using blackboard drawings to emphasize his point, Pickens said there was "no way'' the U.S. could solve its dependence with domestic oil -- there just isn't enough.

The 80-year-old oilman said he launched his campaign because the United States' $700 billion-ayear addiction to foreign oil wasn't a major national issue, and because "I'm the only one who understands this.''

Within the past week, Pickens said he'd met both presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, and McCain told him that energy is now the No. 1 question he gets on the campaign trail. He said he'd also spoken with Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett, who told him his plan was "on the right track.''

And, Pickens said, he has gotten 4.5 million "hits'' on his pickensplan.com Web site and enlisted 300,000 people to support him.

Pickens said his plan would only provide a "bridge'' for 20 to 30 years, when more long-term alternatives -- electric cars, hydrogen cars and solar energy -- should be fully developed.

There was no mention during Pickens' 40-minute appearance about his controversial past. It includes funding the "Swift Boat Veterans'' attack advertising against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, or his recent attempts to pump water from the Ogallala Aquifer from the Texas Panhandle to thirsty cities like Dallas.

No one has taken Pickens up on his $1.5 billion water plan. And while some national pundits have said the Pickens Plan is about reputation repair, it was all in the rear view mirror in Lincoln.

"I think he hit the nail on the head,'' said Scott Kleeb, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, after Pickens spoke. "You can't tell me looking around this room that people aren't hungry for change.''

Former Gov. Mike Johanns, Kleeb's Republican opponent, met with Pickens after his appearance. He said he praised him for devising a plan, and one that focuses on a variety of American sources of energy, from natural gas and wind power, to nuclear power and increased oil drilling.

Johanns, who resigned as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to run for Senate, did caution that increased use of natural gas could have negative effects on farmers, by increasing the price of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer.

Pickens said his plan isn't about making money for himself. He said he has already pledged his fortune to charities when he dies and has earmarked another $56 million next year to push or implement his plan.

Before he was whisked out the door to more "town hall'' meetings in Rapid City, S.D., later
Wednesday and Fargo, N.D., today, Pickens pledged to carry through on his campaign.

"I'm on a mission, and I'm going to be successful,'' he said.