T. Boone Pickens addressed some 400 Energy Capital Forum attendees in Houston this week, hosted by Oil and Gas Investor. His thoughts on ethanol: "It's an ugly baby, but it's ours...We're stuck with it." Pickens is an advocate of using wind energy, particularly in the windy Midwestern U.S. corridor, to contribute to the generation of the additional 200,000 megawatts of electricity demand the U.S. is forecasted to need. This figure is 20% more electricity demand than the current U.S. draw. To put the forecasted U.S. demand for electricity into perspective, 1,500 megawatts of power generation is the equivalent output of one nuclear plant. The additional 200,000 megawatts of demand would require some 133 nuclear plants. Using wind energy would reduce power-generation demand for natural gas, freeing this energy source to power automobiles, he says, thus reducing U.S. demand for importing oil. Concerning new U.S. natural gas production, particularly from shale plays such as the Barnett, Pickens says America has a great friend upstairs. "It's unbelievable for this country to get this opportunity (for new domestic gas supply). It's almost like divine intervention." See more on Pickens' comments at www.OilandGasInvestor.com by fellow editor Steve Toon. For the agendas for Energy Capital Forum, Energy Capital--The Workshop: Starting and Building a Successful E&P Company, and Energy Capital--Investment Symposium, see www.HartEnergyConferences.com and click on "Past Presentations." –Nissa Darbonne, Executive Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, A&D Watch, Oil and Gas Investor This Week, www.OilandGasInvestor.com; ndarbonne@hartenergy.com