Oilman and alternative energy spokesman T. Boone Pickens has called president-elect Barack Obama’s recent speech at George Mason University to be “an important first step in solving our nation’s energy crisis and getting our economy moving again.”

Pickens says, “Investing in alternative energy, focusing on conservation and rebuilding our power grid to deliver that energy to every corner of our country are critical components of this effort. As the new Congress and new administration begin work, it will be critical that they focus on the need to dramatically reduce our dependency on foreign oil, which strangles our economy and threatens our national security. President-elect Obama made it clear that he also understands the important role that transportation will play in solving our energy crisis and I am confident that he will recognize that as we reduce our imports of foreign oil, there the only domestic resources available are natural gas and plug-in batteries that can have an immediate impact on this effort.”

Pickens is the creator of the Pickens Plans, a strategy to reduce dependence on foreign energy by investing in domestic wind and natural gas assets.