Pickin' on Pickens: FedEx Thinks T. Boone Is Full of Natural Gas

T. Boone Pickens, out peddling his plan to ween the U.S. off the foreign-oil teat since July, has long maintained that natural gas is the future. FedEx CEO Fred Smith says: Nope, sorry hybrids are the future. Notes this morning's Wall Street Journal, the disagreement's getting awful big and growing...

By Robert Wilonsky

January 9, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

T. Boone Pickens, out peddling his plan to ween the U.S. off the foreign-oil teat since July, has long maintained that natural gas is the future. FedEx CEO Fred Smith says: Nope, sorry hybrids are the future. Notes this morning's Wall Street Journal, the disagreement's getting awful big and growing just a wee bit personal as Smith and his director of sustainability, Mitch Jackson, and the Dallas billionaire square off in a series of, no kiddin', blog posts -- how Miley-Demi! Wrote Pickens on Wednesday:

Not only does Jackson need to do more homework on the domestic availability and clean air benefits of natural gas, he needs to realize that deploying vehicles that use slightly less foreign oil -- vehicles that have little testing or are not available in the marketplace -- will not solve America's energy crisis.

But there is a special someone for whom T. Boone offered some kind words yesterday: Barack Obama, following the president-elect's speech yesterday. --Robert Wilonsky

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Dallas Observer has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.