Pickens: Oil addiction funding terrorists

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DALLAS, May 12 (UPI) -- U.S. addiction to foreign oil subsidizes terrorism and is one of the greatest threats to the country's economic wealth, financial magnate T. Boone Pickens said.

Pickens is advocating a clean-energy future through the expanded domestic use of renewable resources such as wind and solar power. He proposes natural gas, meanwhile, as an alternative fuel for the transportation sector.

He says based on the latest figures from the federal government, the United States imported 61 percent of its oil in April to the tune of $42.5 billion.

"April's oil import numbers are the highest we have ever seen and the implications are disturbing. This is a national security threat of the highest order," said Pickens. "Our addiction to OPEC oil is so severe that it constitutes the greatest transfer of wealth in history."

He claims oil purchased from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Counties is subsidizing terrorist groups, adding U.S. reliance on foreign oil means Americans are "held hostage by dictators and unstable regimes."

Pickens claims the "only way" to cut dependence on foreign oil is to look to natural gas as an alternative.

The United States holds some of the largest reserves of shale gas in the world, though environmentalists claim the methods used to extract the resources from underground rock formations does more harm than good.