Pickens speaker at Sovereignty Symposium

[ JUNE 1, 2009 - OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ] - T. Boone Pickens will deliver the keynote address at this week’s 22nd annual Sovereignty Symposium, “Land, Wind and Water.”

Natural resources and power are the key topics facing participants in the symposium, ranging from transmission, development and other power-grid issues to water in the 21st century, green energy, environmental protection, wind and land issues.

Oklahoma native Pickens is a major advocate of wind energy and has launched the “Pickens Plan,” aimed at reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil through development of alternatives such as natural gas, and boosting a generation of electrical power through wind and solar energy.

Pickens is scheduled to speak during the symposium’s opening ceremony, which begins at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth will co-moderate the first panel discussion of the symposium, entitled “Surfing the Grid.”

“This is a general conversation about energy issues unique to Oklahoma,” Roth said. “Specifically, it will give us an opportunity to talk about business development and opportunities within Oklahoma’s general population, as well as its native tribes.”

Roth said the latter discussion will center on economic development and job-creation opportunities related to electricity and energy development, particularly wind power.

He said Choctaw Nation Chief Greg Pyle will discuss the tribe’s interest in that as a development opportunity and job engine for its members.

Roth said Jaime McAlpine, president of Chermac Energy of Edmond, will discuss wind energy development, having been in the business for about a decade. Les Dillahunty, senior vice president of engineering regulatory quality of the Southwest Power Pool, also has been added to the panel.

Oklahoma Energy Secretary Robert Wegener will present a general energy overview.

Other scheduled members of the opening panel include Ben Jackson, general counsel of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission; Wayne Walker, director of business development for OG&E; and attorney Ken Bellmard.

Judge Charles Chapel of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals also will serve as moderator.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson will moderate a panel on “Water Law in the 21st Century and Beyond,” also on Wednesday.

Other natural resources-related panels will address “The Climate Crisis: Tribal Governments and the Green Energy Revolution,” “The Science and Structure of Environmental Protection,” and “Rights of Way, Land Ownership and Inheritance of Land.”

Other panels will discuss health care, workers’ compensation, tribal courts, education, gaming, inter-governmental economic cooperation, transportation, children’s issues and “Languages, the Arts and Cultural Preservation.”

Panel discussions and other presentations will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel. On-site registration is available each day beginning at 7:30 a.m. Registration is $275, $150 for Thursday only or $150 for federal, state and tribal judges.

More information may be obtained at www.oscn.net/sovereignty or by calling Julie Rorie at (405) 522-5801.