Legendary oil investor T. Boone Pickens wants the U.S. to get off its addiction to foreign oil and fossil fuels.
The 79-year-old multi-billionaire was on CNBC earlier this week talking about energy, oil prices and ethanol. According to Delta Farm Press, Pickens has changed his mind about ethanol.
Pickens, who admitted he once opposed ethanol, said on CNBC’s daily “Squawk Box” program that America’s purchases of foreign oil are costing the country a half a trillion dollars every year.
“You take 10 years, and you have $5 trillion,” said Pickens. “That’s more than $1 billion a day. We can’t stand that.” (That $500 billion per year is not far from the record federal deficit of $552 billion in 2004.)
Ethanol industry leaders have been saying the United States needed to reduce its use of foreign-produced oil to avoid transferring such wealth out of the country. But few have put it in such dramatic terms as Pickens.
Acknowledging he didn’t think much of ethanol’s claims in the early years, he said he now supports increased production. “I’d rather have ethanol and recirculate the money in the country, than to have it go out the back door on us.”
Pickens has a company called Clean Energy Corporation that provides natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets via fuel stations and last year he announced that he intends to build the world’s largest wind farm by installing large wind turbines in parts of four Panhandle counties.
Classic Chevrolet/HUMMER spent more than $500,000 to install nine pumps dedicated to E85, E10 and biodiesel at its new Classic Clean Fuels station.
“Classic Chevy has taken a true leadership role by making E85 and other biofuels available to the citizens of Grapevine and allowing all customers who purchase a flex fuel vehicle to drive off with a full tank of E85,” said Karl Doenges, president of CleanFUEL Distribution. “Classic Chevy has gone a step further and configured their station so all municipal, county, state and federal fleets around the Grapevine-DFW Airport area can seamlessly use this site with their existing fleet management program. Everyone can now do their part for energy independence, the environment and growing our economy.” 
Shipping giant UPS, affectionately known as Brown, is doing its best to be known for its GREEN practices.
Of the 167 new CNG trucks, 25 have been deployed in Dallas; 42 in Atlanta, and the remaining 100 in five California cities: 30 to Sacramento, 14 to Los Angeles, five to Ontario, 10 to San Ramon and 41 to Fresno. They join more than 800 CNG vehicles already in use by UPS in the United States. Previous CNG vehicles in UPS’s fleet were converted from gasoline and diesel vehicles in the 1980s to run on alternative fuels. The new vehicles are originally manufactured for alternative fuel use.
A requirement that all diesel sold in Missouri contain at least 5 percent biodiesel has passed the State Senate.
According to the companies, “the sugars can be sourced from non-food sources like corn stover, switch grass, wheat straw and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstock like wheat, corn and sugarcane.” 
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The Corvette Racing C6.R driven by Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows captured ninth overall and first in the 12 hours of Sebring in Florida, the season opener for the American Le Mans Series.
The first-ever biodiesel fuel card has been unveiled. National Biodiesel Foundation (NBF) today introduced the BioTrucker Fuel Card, which highlights the availability of biodiesel with a network of truck stops that carry biodiesel. 
A company with ambitious plans to have ethanol plants in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska is now planning to file for bankruptcy after being unable to raise $1.5 million in necessary interim financing.