"Pickens Still Gung-Ho On Wind Farm Despite Delay"

"Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to propose legislation that would more than double tax breaks for people who buy cars that run on natural gas.

Under the plan, the $5,000 tax credit for natural gas vehicles, set to expire in 2010, would increase to $12,500 for passenger cars and light trucks.

The move comes a day after Pickens postponed a plan to create the world's largest wind farm in Texas. The billionaire had spent $60 million advertising his plan to combat what he calls the United States' addiction to foreign oil.

Pickens tells Robert Siegel that tight credit markets and the absence of transmission lines, which would carry wind energy from the turbines to the grid, made the postponement necessary. But, he says, the turbines and financing will be available in 2011, and the transmission will be up by 2013.

'So, it'll all fit together,' he says. 'We'll just be a couple of years behind schedule.'"

Robert Siegel interviewed Pickens on NPR's All Things Considered July 8, 2009.