As the presidential election season moves into full swing, the sad truth is that the energy plan with the best chance of weaning us away from high-priced oil and laying the ground for a sustainable energy future isn't coming out of the Republican or Democratic camps. Instead, T. Boone Pickens—the ex-oilman now converted to the benefits of wind power—has come up with a proposal that could take us a lot closer to where we need to be.

The past few years have witnessed the mother of all conversions for Pickens, who made his name in the 1980s as a corporate raider in the oil industry. Pickens has since come to the (perhaps belated) conclusion that America needs to cut its reliance on foreign oil. That's a truism that is shared by both political parties but, unlike the two leading presidential...