Building new wind generation facilities to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil is essential for the country's economy, legendary oil investor Boone Pickens, CEO of BP Capital, told CNBC on Tuesday.

The U.S. is currently importing 70 percent of the oil it needs compared with 42 percent in 1990 and 24 percent in the 70s, and this is costing the country $700 billion, Pickens said.

"We are very close to a disaster for the country," he told "Squawk Box." Importing oil "is expensive now, it's gonna get more expensive," he added.

Asked whether drilling for oil should be allowed everywhere, Pickens answered "I say yeah, let's go ahead and do it."

The Department of Energy estimated that 20 percent of America's energy needs can be covered by wind energy, but Pickens, who already invested in the field, says it can cover as much as 40 or even 60 percent.

There is a "perfect spot" in the interior of the country, a corridor stretching from West Texas to the Canadian border, for wind turbines, said Pickens, who dubbed America "the Saudi Arabia of wind."

I saw this report this morning also.  It was very informative and I'm amazed that we have depended so much on other countries when we have everything we need right here in America.

Last I read he has about 2 B invested in West Texas, thats one large bet blowing in the wind.

Is this the guy that was on GMA this morning?  They had an advertisement on TV last night that said some oil hot shot was going to be on GMA telling how we can get out of our oil crises.  I wondered what he was going to say, and this does not surprise me at all.

I think we all know our country is in an oil crises, and something needs to be done!  I think between wind power and solar power, that is what is going to get us out of the energy crunch. I am glad to hear this man is trying to get it all started!

THE WIND ENERGY-WIND TURBINE FARMS INLAND AND OFFSHORE.WIND IS THE BEST SOURCE OF ENERGY,FOR 1 THE EARTH SPINNING WILL CAUSE WIND CURRENTS LONG AS IT SPINS I DOUBT IF IT STOPS NOW OR EVER.YOU CANNOT CONTAIN  WIND SUCH AS GAS AND OIL,ITS ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY,AND HAS A UNLIMITED SOURCE MEANING YOU CANNOT REACH A PEAK WIND SUPPLY BUT YOU CAN COLLECT ENERGY FROM IT.

Sounds like a plan to me.  We certainly need one.

I believe Mr. Pickens is trying to protect his interest in this energy source. His goal is to make it a political issue between the candidates. The concept is great but since it is an intermittent source and there are hurdles to overcome. The major problem with most alternative energy plays, is the storage of that energy generated is very expensive and problematic.

Looks like the storage facility manufactures have the greatest room for advancement. The progress is coming and improving at an accelerated rate.

The high oil prices are driving this progress, in a way, hopefully the bad will drive us to the good in the future. Its my opinion that his rattling will increase the interest in the companies that lead these innovations.

I doubled my position in this industry today................ Happy stock hunting to all.

ITS ABOUT TIME WE HAVE A KINGPIN IN THE OIL INDUSTRY  WHO IS DECIDING TO ACT. LORD KNOWS CONGRESS WONT DO IT EVEN IF THE MASS CITIZEN THAT ELECTED THEM VOTES TO DO SO. IM ALSO A BIG FAN OF THE NEW MIT RESEARCH BEING DONE ON BIODIESEL TECHNOLOGY. THEY ARE DESIGNING AN INCUBATER THAT GROWS ALGE AT AN ALARMING RATE. ALGE IS THE FASTEST GROWN PLANT, AND IS OVER 60% STARCH IN WHICH CAN BE USED AS BIODIESEL. THE ISSUE IS CORN, WHEAT, AND SUGAR ARE LESS STARCHY AND WOULD BE LESS EFFICIENT THAN ALGE, PLUS BY USING FOODS AS FUEL INCREASES FOOD PRICES. GOOD JOB PICKENS, MIT STUDENTS, AND ALL THE WORLD INNOVATORS.

Very interesting, I'm confident some one in the good ole USA will get us and our children out of this mess.

I don't think it's one alternative energy alone.  I think we need wind, solar, geothermal, and anything else we can get.  We need to learn how to maximize batteries, hydrogen conversion and other ways to utilize, store and convert these alternative energies into ways to drive our cars and power our cities.  It's going to take a lot of work, investment and infrastructure, but if we don't do it, we're going to be outcompeted by countries that DO make the effort, and the longer we put it off the worse it's going to hurt in the meanwhile.  Oil, natural gas and coal are not going to get cheaper or more plentiful while we wait, and our economy is not going to get better while we run out of resources.

I beleive this one of many solutions that need to be implemented as soon as possible to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. It's amazing that that 20 percent of America's energy needs can be covered by wind energy, or some think even more!

Wind power is great.  I always wanted a windmill to produce power ... well, at least for 30 years.

LOL!

I doubt it.

Well let us hope that the guy makes history. I say go to where all the guys already have oil and get or take some back to give us to help make our lives easier. Why after helping all of these places outside of the US gain oil should we have to neel over and take these high prices. Then to I think we have bought all of this on ourselves. By not having a proper leader that would watch over these sort of things and be able to decipher what is to come. No one can really tell what is to come but they would have had a couple of hunches anyway and could map out a plan of strategy to win this thing before it got out of hand like it is now. Toni

It definitely needs to be a piece of the overall pie, no doubt.