Loading...

T. Boone Pickens Plan — Bidding for Renewable Energies or Water Grab?

T. Boone Pickens, a billionaire Texan known for many things over his 84 years I’m sure, has been on television and YouTube touting his conversion.

Pickens is known for building wealth through oil and hardball business tactics, but of late has been talking up the need to use wind power and natural gas for a self-reliant American energy future.

I blogged here at sustainablog recently about my early impressions of the man’s switcharoo – T. Boone Pickens: Oil Dependence ‘Is One Emergency We Can’t Drill Our Way Out Of’ – and his unlikely role in potentially being a prominent, “We need to wean off of petroleum” leader against the slow-to-move heads of this nation.

Surely no billionaire can become one without keeping $$$ at the forefront of the mind at all times. I have never proclaimed Pickens to be a saint for his tack to the left to embrace wind power as a business. I pegged him as a billionaire seeing an opportunity to make more billions, but at least in an area that is of environmental interest.

Like I’d said last week, “Pickens and the like can have their money, and we can have a cleaner, better world.”

But…

A Second Look at the Pickens Plan

Not surprisingly – and as at least a couple of comments posted on that previous Pickens blog entry mentioned – the Pickens Plan doesn’t do good just ’cause it’s good. Might there be an ulterior motive?

A July 25, 2008 Popular Mechanics magazine article says that Pickens has another, lesser-talked about plan in mind:

Pickens is in the planning stages of a $1.5 billion initiative to pump billions of gallons of water from an ancient aquifer beneath the Texas Panhandle and build pipelines to ship them to thirsty cities such as Dallas…

“Company officials and experts agree that a continuation of the drought impacting large portions of the United States could turn Pickens into something of a water baron.”

In a co-written op-ed piece by Republican State Senators Ken Seliger (Amarillo) and Robert Duncan (Lubbock), published July 12 at LubbockOnline.com, the pair writes of Pickens strong-arming his way to a land and water grab, a move they dub unequivocally negative for West Texans.

“The brand-new Roberts County Fresh Water Supply District No. 1, acting as an alter ego of businessman T. Boone Pickens and Mesa Power Pampa, LLC, has launched a private venture that may force landowners in 11 counties to submit to the power of eminent domain so they can pump water from the shrinking Ogallala Aquifer and sell wind-generated electricity. This new governmental entity is composed of only five people, all employees or associates of Mr. Pickens.”

Is the Pickens Plan At All Good for Us?

The word seems to have been out for a little while that Pickens’ plan is about more than just finding a dose of do-gooding in his heart in his twilight years. Critics seem to be trying to defy Pickens’ mission, but that may be easier said than done at the moment.

Pickens’ commercials are much more prominent on television than any critics’ rebuttals are, if those opponents are on T.V. at all. All I’ve seen is Pickens touting his conversion to energies of the future.

A Couple of Questions:

  • Does Pickens’ holy-dollar, billionaire focus on wronging folks in Texas to grab water mean his plan to build a massive swath of wind turbines up and down the plains is a sham?
  • Or are these two things somehow separable? Is he perhaps still a leader in guiding corporate and government leaders – and the public – away from oil dependence?

(Not that I at all support the land and water grab, and certainly not via a concocted eminent domain swindle!)

But I am trying to parse out the deeds here.

In short… Do we go ahead and fully dismiss T. Boone Pickens’ plan for wind and natural gas and energy self-reliance?

Maybe this comment by Duncan and Seliger offers a partial answer:

“There is an undeniable demand growing for renewable energy. Wind power is coming to Texas and it will be developed in the Panhandle and West Texas, regardless of whether Mr. Pickens’ latest venture succeeds.”

Related posts:

1977 Magazine Advertisement: ‘Solar energy; a practical reality, an expensive dream, which?’

Petroleum-Based Products Shape Our Lives; Are We Irreversibly Oil-Dependent?

How America Lost the (Self-Appointed) Title of ‘Greatest Generation on Earth’ to Denmark

Gas Mileage and Oil Dependence From the 1970s to Now; What Happened?

7 comments
  1. Bobby B.

    Follow the money and you will find an unlikely alliance between T. Boone and Carl Pope (President of The Sierra Club):

    “But while the Sierra Club can’t seem to do anything about Pickens’ influence with state legislators, they do have enough influence to make his water politically unpotable. This opposition may soon abate, however, now that Pickens has buddied up with Sierra Club president Carl Pope.

    As noted last week, Pope now flies in Pickens’ private jet and publicly lauds him. The two are newly-minted “friends,” since Pope needs the famous Republican oilman to lend propaganda value to the Sierra Club’s anti-oil agenda and Pickens needs Pope to ease up on the Ogallala water opposition.”

    http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20080731.html

    It also seems that Pickens and Nancy Pelosi have found some common ground:

    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=72225

    Oh what strange bedfellows big energy, alternative energy, greenism, and politics are making? Seems that they all have one thing in common: a wealthy puppet master at their respective helms. Are any of you greenies beginning to realize that you have been duped for decades?

    BTW, why did the US government investigate and convict Enron’s leadership but looks the other way when Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG have similar woes? Why bail out these companies when others have failed? Who in politics is associated with them?

  2. Bobby B.

    Follow the money and note the newly formed alliance between Pickens and Carl Pope (President of the Sierra Club):

    “But while the Sierra Club can’t seem to do anything about Pickens’ influence with state legislators, they do have enough influence to make his water politically unpotable. This opposition may soon abate, however, now that Pickens has buddied up with Sierra Club president Carl Pope.

    As noted last week, Pope now flies in Pickens’ private jet and publicly lauds him. The two are newly-minted “friends,” since Pope needs the famous Republican oilman to lend propaganda value to the Sierra Club’s anti-oil agenda and Pickens needs Pope to ease up on the Ogallala water opposition.”

    “A TreeHugger.com writer recently observed, ‘… I am left asking myself why the green media have neglected [the water] aspect of Pickens’ wind-farm plans? Have we been so distracted by the prospect of Texas’ renewable energy portfolio growing by 4000 megawatts that we are willing to overlook some potentially dodgy aspects to the project?'” – (Sources: Junk Science Website & Treehugger)

    Also, it is interesting to note Nancy Pelosi’s recent purchase of stock in Pickens’ company Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (CLNE). “Now the House speaker stands to make a large profit on her reported 22,000 shares of CLNE if she and other public figures can persuade the people of California to vote for Proposition 10 in the name of renewable energy and clean, alternative fuels.” – (Source: Worldnetdaily).

    There seems to be one thing in common in big energy, alternative energy, environmental organizations, and politics: a rich puppet master pulling the strings and lining his/her pockets. Do any of you greenies feel like you’ve been duped by your leaders? Can you see the greenback forest through the trees? This is not entrepreneurialism in the market, it’s market manipulation via political alliances.

    On a side note albeit not totally unrelated note, where are the calls to investigate the leadership and politicians involved with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG? They sure put the screws to Enron when they had similar troubles.

  3. WaterDiva

    This needs to be out more – T Boone is not an altruistic alternative energy pioneer – but is trying to grab water rights via this PR ploy and stick a big giant straw into Texas and sell a public resource for private gain. How much more money could he possibly need at what cost?

  4. will

    TBP gave 100K at least to the mis-named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. That’s the group that lied about Sen. Kerry’s Vietnam record. So Pickens is a liar.

    He also has extensive gas holdings.

    So what we have here is a proven liar who stands to make a lot of money by shifting us to natural gas as a prime energy source. I think the whole deal is the natural gas, the wind energy part of it is a distraction.

    He therefore has no credibility on the energy issue, I don’t care how much money he made.

  5. Jim

    It’s high time for the Sierra Club to fire Carl Pope and get back to it’s roots – conservation.

    None of the energy problems will be solved without the primary focus being on wilderness conservation, resource conservation, land conservation and energy conservation. 80% by 2050 is sheer fantasy without looking at seriously reducing consumption. This can only happen by everyone sacrificing something to SAVE the beauty and resources of our country and our world. Imagine 10,000,000 420′ tall windmills defacing our country?

    The DEVIL is in the details.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *