T. Boone Pickens: 'We're The Only Country in The World Without an Energy Policy

While appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens dished on everything from energy policy, to natural gas, to “green” jobs. But it was when “Morning Joe” guest Mike Barnicle asked Pickens what he would do differently to boost the economy via the energy industry, the oilman had some depressing news.

“If I was president, I’d get an energy policy for America. We're the only country in the world without an energy policy and you use 25 percent of the oil. We’re insane,” Pickens said. “And we have resources in America that we could have an energy policy.”

But what about energy independence?

“I wouldn’t want to be,” Pickens responded, “because I want to work with the Canadians. But we work with the Canadians like they’re the enemy sometimes. We tell them they can’t bring a Keystone pipeline to the United States…That’s 250 billion barrels of oil that the United States would capture for our use!”

Watch Pickens’ interview via MSNBC:

“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski pushed Pickens on the subject of the Obama administration’s approach to energy. The oilman didn’t change his tune.

“Well, they don’t have an energy policy,” Pickens said.

“So you don’t think that the oil production being up domestically is due to the work of this administration?” Brzezinski asked.

“It has nothing to do with the administration,” Pickens replied. “We’ve gotten someplace, but it’s because of technology advanced by the industry.”

However, out of all the things said by the tycoon, there was one moment that grabbed a lot of people’s attention. That was when Pickens, a man who has arguably put more money than any single person into the “green” energy industry, openly admitted that he has “lost his a*s” investing in wind energy.

“My issue is not political,” Pickens said, “I mean, this is an opportunity for America to advance, get on the back of cheap energy and recover our economy. It can be done, but we have no plan.”

What suggestions did he have?

“Obama needs to go in, study it, look at it, and decide what an energy plan is, and then go forward with it. He needs to explain to his people, ‘Hey, we can get on everything green," Pickens said.

"We can get on everything renewable. Then the cost of power will go up ten times.’ So be careful when you start fooling with it. Know what you’re working with.”

(H/T: Tina Korbe)