July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Happy (belated) Energy Independence Day. To celebrate on July 8, T. Boone Pickens came to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a landmark Washington dive not far from the White House. He brought with him the “Pickens Car” and more importantly the “Pickens Plan,” a blueprint for weaning the U.S. off foreign oil, introduced a year ago.

Pickens came to Ben’s in his crusade to get ordinary citizens involved in his goal of stopping “the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind” -- $10 trillion within a decade, he says -- to Mideast governments that would blow us up. His solution -- oilmen stop reading here! -- natural gas.

Wait a minute. Pickens is an oilman. He founded and made his fortune in Texas at Mesa Petroleum Co. In this endeavor, he is propelled by something other than money -- pragmatism, the drive of an idea, and getting old.

At age 80, more worried about the next generation than the next payday, he looked around last year at all the geniuses without a plan and decided to devote a chunk of his wealth to being the fool with one. With $60 million of his own money -- he said he’s glad it was a year ago and not this year when the market has left him considerably poorer -- he became the Pied Piper of natural gas.

Clean, Cheap, American

He’s shown that one man, albeit one with a big checkbook, can make a difference. In print and television adds, testimony before Congress, town-hall meetings and on just about every talk show, he’s shown how much sense it makes to use natural gas. It’s clean, cheap, abundant and American. Pickens was such a huge hit on “The Daily Show” that host Jon Stewart stood up and saluted him.

In one year, Pickens got Congress to take notice. Yesterday, Senators Orrin Hatch and Robert Menendez introduced a bill (co-sponsored by Majority Leader Harry Reid) that mirrors legislation working its way through the House. It would extend for 18 years tax credits for natural gas fuel, vehicle and infrastructure (gas stations of the sort Barack Obama supported as a senator) to get more natural gas vehicles into production.

Natural gas will take hold when there are pumping stations. To move that piece along, Pickens is targeting large companies with large fleets. It makes economic sense to replace aging gas vehicles with ones powered by cleaner natural gas.

AT&T Inc. has promised to spend $565 million over the next decade to buy 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles. At least $350 million of the investment will go toward purchasing 8,000 compressed natural gas vehicles. AT&T says it will help build about 40 compressed natural gas fueling stations.

Credit Crunch

Pickens has already gotten various airports, including Phoenix Sky Harbor, to adopt natural gas. And he’s looking for some other large companies with trucks to sign on.

Even gazillionaires have setbacks. A year after he announced his plans on ABC Television’s “Good Morning America,” Pickens appeared yesterday to talk about his progress and discuss the slowdown of his planned wind farm in Pampa, Texas. The credit crunch kept him from getting financing.

Change often doesn’t come from Capitol Hill, where Congress follows as much as it leads, which is why Pickens came to Ben’s. The eatery, which has fed celebrity guests such as Will Smith, Bill Cosby and most recently Obama, is a haven for your average Joe, who has seen enough documentaries about the oceans rising, the polar bears dying, and people doffing coats on 70 degree days in December, to be alarmed. They are here for the chili dogs, a look at the garishly green natural gas-powered car, and to sign up as volunteers.

Energy Security

We underestimate the magnitude of change that’s available. Just as the capacity of a microchip was doubled about every 18 months, the same could happen with solar batteries with a similar investment in R&D. Spend a few billion on geothermal and we may yet get to zero carbon output.

Pickens doesn’t make the argument that natural gas is perfect. It’s a fossil fuel, after all, although it is much cleaner and it’s here and not the desert.

He isn’t arguing that he’s the answer to the whole energy debacle, or that he’s an environmentalist, despite getting praise from the Sierra Club. “My page one is energy security,” he says. “Page two is the environment.”

Pickens is an answer for apathy, something to cheer for on a day when the Group of Eight couldn’t reach agreement on climate control.

Until same time next year. See you at Ben’s.

(Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 8, 2009 21:30 EDT