From time to time, you know you want to cover a certain Congressional hearing, simply because of who is on the witness list.  That happened to me Tuesday, when I saw the name of T. Boone Pickens.

What could be better than a Texas oilman, a larger than life kind of name, and a little bit of a drawl to go with it?  It especially was good timing given all of the focus these days on the price of oil.

"I probably am the oldest oilman here today," Pickens joked as he started his testimony.

"Our country is in the most perilous time in its history when it comes to imported oil," he began, as it quickly became apparent that you couldn't pigeonhole Pickens as a "typical" oil executive.

As for America's current energy situation, "Our main energy problem begins and ends with imported oil," Pickens said.  But he didn't exactly mimic the party line of Big Oil when it came to figuring out how best to deal with expensive oil.

"Could we drill our way out of it?  No, there's no way we can do that," Pickens told a Senate hearing.

So what would he do?  Well, just look at what Pickens is investing in right now - a 4,000 megawatt wind farm in Texas - enough he says to serve the electricity needs of over one million homes.

"We have the best wind in the world," Pickens told Senators, "it's time to get serious about using it."

His idea is to use wind power to replace the 22% of electricity that's generated with natural gas.  Pickens would then shift the natural gas into the transportation sector (where it could run buses, cars and trucks) and use that to replace imported oil.

"We are building the world's largest wind project in Pampa, Texas," said Pickens, who envisions a "wind belt" running from Texas through the the Plains States and into Canada.

"It is all good for wind, a fabulous resource for this country to have," said Pickens.

When you think about it, this is the crux of the issue right now.  Will the feds and the Congress step up to help spur major investment in wind, solar, hydro and other "renewable fuel" options?

Maybe a mix of that, plus measures that open new areas to drilling in the US?

When asked about ANWR later in the hearing, Pickens offered only a lukewarm endorsement.

"I would look at ANWR and feel like it may be time," said Pickens.

But he's clearly more interested in being a Wind Tycoon right now.