Energy and Environment: When Wind and Oil Combine For Water

America is dependant on oil for energy. In 1970, there was a 24% import level; today, it is almost 70% and increasing. Thus, many Americans want to be independent of oil for energy, and one of them is the oilman and corporate raider, T. Boon Pickens. Therefore, he created the Pickens Plan, a plan to set up the largest wind farm in the world to rid America of it’s foreign oil addiction. Why is he doing that? He who committed huge sums of money to the elections of the Bush administrations who have a close relationship with foreign oil producers, he who is head of BP Capital Management that has foreign oil interests, he who has invested in Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil services corporation, the Shaw Group, a nuclear and conventional energy powerhouse, Kellog Brown and Root and so on… So he decries the influence of foreign oil but his money is on it, what is the catch? It all started when Pickens, who made a good living for a long time extracting oil and gas and now, at 80, turned his attention towards water, a commodity that should be bought, sold, and traded for the benefit of those who own it and those who can afford it.

In 1996 the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority (CRMWA), bought nearly 43,000 acres of water, some of it just south of Pickens' ranch, for $14.5 million. Underneath Roberts County lies one of the world's largest repositories of water. The Ogallala Aquifer stretches from Texas to South Dakota and contains a quadrillion gallons of water yet the extensive irrigation necessary to grow corn, cotton, and wheat in west Texas has left the Ogallala nearly depleted in some places; but the land in Roberts County is unsuited for agriculture, and so the Ogallala there is largely untapped. Groundwater use in Texas is governed by what's quaintly called the rule of capture. It lets landowners pump as much water as they can, even if doing so drains neighboring properties. This put Pickens in an uncomfortable position: If he didn't sell his water to CRMWA, they could potentially suck some of it right out from under his ranch. So he tried but they didn't have the money to buy it. Pickens next approached the city of Amarillo, which also had begun to acquire water rights in Roberts County. It wasn't interested, either. Pickens felt surrounded. "I had to find a buyer for my water," he says, "or I was going to be drained." So Pickens decided to fight. In 1999 he created a company called Mesa Water and began to accumulate water rights so he could sell it to another city. In all, Pickens, CRMWA, and Amarillo have spent about $150 million to buy up nearly 80% of the water rights in Roberts County. Not all Roberts County landowners wanted to do business with him, though. Pickens intended to pull water from an aquifer that is pretty much the sole source for the Panhandle, and that isn't refilled quickly, and sell it to a place like Dallas, whose water use is the highest of any city in Texas. This seemed ludicrous, even reckless, to some.

Thus Pickens owns more water than any other US individual and he wants to sell it, some 65 billion gallons a year but it’s far, far away from anyplace that might buy it. Pickens knew he'd have to build a pipeline, and to do so at anything resembling a reasonable cost, he'd need the power of eminent domain—the right of a government entity to force the sale of private property for the public good. Water utilities have that right. If Dallas agreed to buy Pickens' water, it could extend such authority to him. But Dallas deemed Pickens' price too high and declined to do a deal. So Pickens and his executives tried to create a Fresh Water Supply District—a government entity that would have that power. But they couldn't get it through.

And so here comes in the wind farm. Pickens used the enormous wind farm erected on his property as a means to lobby for the right to pipe the Ogallala water to a major metropolitan center. He successfully passed a bill through the Texas Legislature to allow a water-supply district to transport alternative energy and water in a single corridor, or right-of-way. But Pickens still needed the power of eminent domain if he was going to build his pipeline and wind-power lines across private land so he successfully loosened the legal definitions of a water district, allowing him to invoke the right of eminent domain. Mesa could use a single right-of-way for the water pipeline and the electric lines. With that, Pickens won the right to issue tax-free bonds for his pipeline and electrical lines as well as the extraordinary power to claim land across swaths of the state. In April, 2008, Mesa sent out some 1,100 letters to people along the 250-mile proposed right-of-way. The letters included a Texas landowners' bill of rights, information on the condemnation procedure, a map of the route, and a list of open houses they could attend for more information. Mesa expects to acquire the land it needs in the next 18 months and pay about $30 million for it; Pickens wants to begin construction on the $1.2 billion pipeline right afterward. It should take about three years to complete. If all goes according to plan, Mesa will be able to pump enough water to satisfy the needs of some 1.5 million Texans every day.

How long will the Ogallala sustain Pickens’ pumping? No one knows, hopefully, it will be controlled. But even with rules and regulations set up to protect the environment, can it stop Pickens who is living in his own version of No Country For Old Men? For he went through the hassle of building a $1 Trillion wind farm to be able to pump it, surely property, environment and democracy will not have a chance to stand in his way.

Sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_25/b4089040017753.htm
http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/
http://lubbockonline.com/stories/071008/loc_302185743.shtml
http://www.alternet.org/environment/95471/why_t._boone_pickens%27_%27clean_energy%27_plan_is_a_ponzi_scheme/?page=entire
http://www.viropop.com/zaproot/episode/ZPR_20080730