The Answer, My Friend? July 29, 2008March 11, 2017 THE PICKENS PLAN We import 70% of our oil up from 24% just 38 years ago. Another 38 years and we’ll be importing well over 100%. (Insert tragicomic smiley face here.) The annual cost is $700 billion – over 10 years = $7 trillion. We are going broke fast. There are solutions. Take four and a half minutes to watch one of them.