Muckraking journalist Tim Carney's latest column reveals how T. Boone Pickens managed to form his own town, complete with a government authorized to issue tax free bonds, and how he plans to profit from this maneuver.
Roberts County, Texas, sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground reservoir that stretches all the way to South Dakota. It's in Roberts County that T. Boone Pickens set aside eight acres from his ranch for drilling deep into the aquifer.Then he turned this parcel into a town, basically, with only two eligible voters -- both of whom were his employees. (This required a change in Texas law in 2007 -- a change facilitated no doubt by his $1.2 million in campaign contributions to Texas legislators in 2006).
Then there was an election in this district, in which both voters voted to make this 8-acre municipality a special fresh-water district.
Pickens' wholly owned government entity now can issue tax-free bonds (meaning he can borrow at a serious discount) and use the power of eminent domain to pressure landowners to sell -- or to take their land if they hold out. The eminent domain power is key to building the pipeline that will run this water down to the Dallas area, where Pickens hopes to sell the water. If your land lies in the path of his proposed pipeline, you got a letter explaining that T. Boone wants to buy a stretch of your land -- and explaining that he can use eminent domain if you resist. If this begins to sound too cutthroat to the public, Pickens just reminds journalists and politicians that following this water pipeline will be the transmission cables for Pickens' mammoth wind farm.
(Disclosure: Tim is my brother and I drink water.)
T. Boone Pickens wants your water [DC Examiner]
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 9:38AM
I drink your milkshake/water...
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 9:42AM
There's a guy on the corner of High St. and Pearl St. in Boston (across the street from Goldman offices) wearing a sandwich board sign with "MBA for hire" written on it. Was carrying to much shit to snap a pic but maybe he'll still be there at lunch.
What ever happened to that park ave clown?
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 9:43AM
Wasn't this article in businessweek about a month ago?
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 10:01AM
Also the current cover story from Texas Monthly this month...http://www.texasmonthly.com/2008-09-01/feature.php
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 10:04AM
Let the record show that crude oil peaked the day *after* WSJ published Pickens' over zealous (and transparent) flogging of windmills, wind power, and "wind channels."
Talking-up-you-position alert.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 10:04AM
It's still the wild, wild west down in Texas. God blessim' You go T-Bone. If them yokels ain't got any oil on their land, then it's just a waste anyhow. If'n all them city-folk don't drink it then cattle need water too don't they?
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 10:16AM
We already know all of this.
Posted by Anal_yst , Aug 22, 2008 10:22AM
my questions is if the other Carney brothers reciprocate their brother's benevolence by linking to/re-posting his work, somehow, methinks its a bit 1-sided
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 10:58AM
How can he assert eminent domain over land that's not in the town? If other people's land is within the town limits, then they should be able to quickly move three people onto that land and vote him out.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 11:03AM
I think I mentioned in a post a month or so ago that T. Boone was buying up the land beneath which lay the Ogllala Reservoir, and that it was only a matter of time before he was roasted by the same environmentalists enthusiastic about his embrace of wind energy.
Texans get very touchy about who's using up the water -- note the recent uproar about Lance Armstrong and his water-wasting ways in Austin.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 11:06AM
What do the Carneys have against Pickens? Let's crucify the guy because he makes a buck while attempts to do a little greater good run alongside. How unethical.
-America
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 11:06AM
What do the Carneys have against Pickens? Let's crucify the guy because he makes a buck while attempts to do a little bit for the greater good run alongside. How unethical.
-America
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 11:13AM
Yes, Pickens will be making a fortunue, but who cares? The water pipeline and wind power lines will benefit a lot of people, not to mention that they will probably be buried underground and no one will even notice them.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 12:22PM
#13
I care because it's a fortune I'm not making.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 12:39PM
Yeah Pickens is a real saint among men and truly a patron of the environment.
God Bless the benvolent investors, and curse those scoundrels standing in their way.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 5:37PM
Say what you will but this guy has a nose for money. First it was oil. And then when Al Gore and his liberal brigade thought they would profit out of the nice little anthromorphic global warming this, this dude totally crashed into their party and used all the groundwork they had laid down (fooling the public, getting taxpayer subsidy) to generate profits for himself.
Awesome.
Posted by guest , Aug 25, 2008 10:21AM
DOJ issued a letter Thursday basically invalidating Roberts County Fresh Water Supply District #1 because of election rules.
RCFWSD can use the power of eminent domain to condemn property if it is in the public good. It doesn't necessarily need to be within the politcal boundaries of the district.
The water is the main issue. The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest underground water supply in the United States, stretching from the Canadian border to south of Lubbock in west Texas. It is the lifeblood of American agriculture.
So let me ask those of you who say that Boone should be allowed to pump all he wants out of the aquifer--would you rather have bread and meat, or allow a Dallas suburbanite a nice green lawn and a swimming pool? That's what this issue boils down to.