By CHRIS GREEN

Harris News Service

TOPEKA -- The billionaire Texas oilman who wants to wean the nation off foreign oil says middle America's rural communities could win big economically from his $1.2 trillion plan.

Several hundred people packed a Topeka town hall meeting to hear T. Boone Pickens talk about how a solution to the nation's energy woes could be blowing in the wind of places such as Kansas.

Pickens presently is running a $58 million national campaign to highlight his plan, and Wednesday's session was the first of several to publicize it in what he's calling the nation's "wind belt."

His effort would involve manufacturing American cars to run on domestically produced natural gas and expanding wind energy production across the plains. He claims it could ensure a chunk of the $700 billion leaving the country for oil each year stays at home, he said.

"We're very close to a disaster for the country," Pickens said of rising oil prices with no end in sight. "So, we have to move as quickly as we can. We have to go with the resources that are available to us."

Pickens said the nation can reduce its foreign oil dependency by 38 percent by shifting the use of natural gas from providing electricity to fueling vehicles during the next decade.

Meanwhile, he'd replace the use of natural gas by greatly expanding wind energy from 2 percent of the nation's power supply up to 22 percent.

But he acknowledges his plan only would serve as a bridge until the U.S. can better develop other ways of powering its vehicles. And he also said he doesn't oppose other ways of bolstering domestic energy production, such as ethanol or expanded off-shore oil drilling.

"I like anything American," Pickens said.

Still, Pickens believes wind has a bright future because the U.S. is the "Saudi Arabia of wind" and he touts the expansion of it as something that could recharge declining rural communities.

He mentioned the case of Sweetwater, Texas, which has seen its dwindling population rebound from 10,000 to 12,000 after a wind farm was built outside town.

Pickens' Mesa Energy also is building the world's largest wind farm -- 4,000 megawatts -- near Pampa, Texas, a town of about 17,000 in the Texas panhandle.

He said the project could bring thousands of dollars and billions of dollars of economic growth to the town, about 111 miles south of Liberal.

About 400 people jammed into the Topeka meeting hall where Pickens, a substantial donor to Republican causes, gave his presentation and received a warm introduction from Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

The crowd ranged widely in dress from suit-clad politicians to college-aged young people to senior citizens in shorts. Hundreds more who couldn't fit in the hall listened to Pickens through a speaker set up just outside the building.

After listening to the talk, Rep. Josh Svaty, D-Ellsworth, said he felt Pickens was an engaging figure who's playing an important role in furthering discussion on how to move the nation's energy debate forward

"He has what appears to be a strong idea," Svaty said.

But Joe Spease, a prospective wind developer from Overland Park, said he had doubts about some aspects of Pickens' plan.

He said he disagreed with Pickens' support for more domestic oil drilling and thought the billionaire might profit personally from increased use of natural gas for fuel.

"We can't drill our way out of this problem ... " Spease said.