OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens is bringing his case for more wind energy to Nebraska.

Pickens has been on a $58 million publicity tour to promote his plan to erect wind turbines in the Midwest to generate electricity, replacing the 22 percent of U.S. power produced from natural gas. The freed-up natural gas then could be used for transportation.

Pickens told a crowd of about 750 people in Topeka, Kansas last week that the United States imported 24 percent of its oil in 1970 and now imports 70 percent, at an annual cost of $700 billion.

Pickens is coming to Lincoln Aug. 20.