FORT WORTH, Texas—Lawmakers must be held accountable if they don’t keep their promises of easing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens said Thursday.

For months he has called on the next president and Congress, in the first 100 days of the administration, to create a comprehensive energy plan.

“We’re going to nail these elected officials this time ... and we’re going to see what they do on energy, and if they don’t have a plan, then they must be for foreign oil,” Pickens said.

However, he said he believes President-elect Barack Obama has a plan and that the country is “going to see it pretty quick.”

Pickens said politicians for decades have pledged to stop the U.S. from relying on foreign oil — now 70 percent of its supply — but that no one has held them accountable when they didn’t, as they got distracted by cheap oil prices and never came up with an energy plan.

Pickens spoke to about 340 people attending a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce lunch celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, which runs one of the nation’s largest fleets of natural gas vehicles.

He has been traveling the country explaining his “Pickens Plan,” which aims to cut foreign oil dependence by 30 percent over the next decade by putting up wind turbines to replace power produced from natural gas. That would leave more natural gas for vehicles now running on gasoline and diesel.

Pickens said plans for his giant wind farm in the Panhandle will be delayed about a year, until 2011, because of the economy.

“You can’t get financing for any projects; the money just isn’t available,” he said.

Pickens, who unveiled his energy plan this summer, said some people have criticized it but no one has offered a better one.

“Can you imagine a guy 80 years old shows up in this country with the only energy plan? And that’s true,” Pickens said. “There has not been anybody come up and say, ‘Here. Lay this down beside what he says and let me show you what we can do’ and it’s better than (mine).”