With his plan, Pickens emphasized that the Mideast could be "clear out of the picture" in 10 years. Pickens' plan would generate energy from natural gas and wind. Wind energy, though, raises this concern: Where to put the transmission lines from wind energy sources? This obstacle, while not addressed in any great detail at this event, was a hot topic at the Clean Energy Summit Pickens spoke at earlier this week in Washington.

Indeed, Pickens has been all over the country, airwaves and op-ed pages this month pushing Congress to go further with its clean energy investments than what the stimulus allocated. He says, for example, the country should build a more reliable electrical transmission grid and develop "smart-grid" technologies. The Pickens Plan, not surprisingly, fits squarely into the oilman's vision for what the new administration's energy plan should be.