KU News Release

Dole Institute town hall meeting to explore ‘Pickens Plan’

UPDATE 4/7/09: Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., will introduce T. Boone Pickens at Wednesday's town hall meeting. The Dole Institute is named for the former senator and Kansas native. Dole will be introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Dole, Brownback and Pickens will be available to media after the town hall meeting (approximately 6 p.m.).

Sen. Bob Dole

LAWRENCE — The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will host T. Boone Pickens in a town hall meeting at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8. The community is invited to join him in a discussion about a national sustainable energy plan, commonly referred to as the Pickens Plan.

Pickens will be introduced by former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., at the meeting. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., will introduce Dole.

“It’s becoming increasingly important to explore market-driven solutions to the United States’ energy use,” said Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute. “The Pickens Plan is one such proposal that has generated public discussion. The town hall meeting with T. Boone Pickens will allow for our community to thoughtfully discuss and rethink our national energy policy.”

T. Boone Pickens

Launched in 2007, the Pickens Plan has sparked a national movement to revise energy use in the United States. Fundamental structures of the plan include increased use of wind and solar energy, utilizing the domestic supply of natural gas as a transportation fuel, increasing incentives for household energy-saving alternatives and creating and updating a national electrical grid.

Pickens is the founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, a financial firm that manages some of the nation’s most successful energy-oriented investment funds. In 1956, Pickens founded Mesa Petroleum, an oil exploration and production company that became one of the largest in the nation under Pickens’ leadership.

The program is free and open to the public.

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