T. Boone Pickens’ Tailor Made Election

Millionaire T. Boone Pickens is preparing to clear the first major hurdle he must jump in order to pump water from West Texas to cities elsewhere in Texas. That hurdle? An election to form a fresh water district:

But this week Pickens secured a November election for a proposed fresh water supply district in Roberts County. Only five people will be eligible to vote and all either work for him, support him and live within the proposed district’s boundaries.

The district could issue low-interest bonds to build a 320-mile pipeline for the water. He also wants to use the rights of way for the water line to bury transmission lines from his proposed 4,000 megawatt wind farm, which would be the largest in the world.

I’ve been wondering exactly how this is working for Pickens. He must have a fairly small area designated for the district. With Texas’ liberal rule of capture doctrine, technically I suppose all Pickens actually needs is just a few acres–enough for a few wells. Officials in Roberts County also question the methodology:

Though Roberts County Judge Vernon H. Cook voted Tuesday to approve a petition for the district and to call for the election to confirm it, he questioned the method.

“I feel like it’s an abuse of the system,” he said of only Pickens’ people casting ballots. “I have all kinds of concerns about the way the legislation is structured, but I don’t think we have a real legal recourse on it.”

We’ve heard that a few water rights activists are hunting around about the possibility of suing Roberts County, Pickens and possibly the state in order to stop the election, hopefully declaring some part of it unconstitutional.

We’ve been advised that the manner in which Pickens has “tailor made” his voting bloc may well be called into question in court:

Cook called the election’s outcome “a foregone conclusion.” He said deeds for the acreage Pickens gave four of his employees were recorded with the county Tuesday, though he wasn’t certain when Pickens gave them the land.

One of those employees, Mike Boswell, said Pickens handed over the deeds about two months ago and with the understanding that the new landowners would back the district.

Monty Humble, an attorney working for Pickens, said freshwater supply districts can get low-interest bonds for infrastructure beyond the boundaries of the district if they are revenue bonds.

The district also comes with eminent domain powers that reach beyond its boundaries.

“There’s nothing remarkable about using eminent domain for water projects,” he said. “And there’s nothing remarkable to using it for electrical transmission.”

Handing eminent domain to a water district run by T. Boone Pickens and five of his employees and their family members hardly seems like a very good thing.

But, this is all pretty puzzling. There is a groundwater conservation district in place, which seems as though it would cause Pickens not to do what he is doing:

C.E. Williams, general manager of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District that places restrictions on how much water is pumped from parts of the Ogallala, said the fresh water district does not usurp his group’s limits.

We’ll keep you updated.

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