Thunder Boone Pickens Jr. may have been the greenmailing poster boy for the oil industry in the 1980’s, but so what? It’s 2008 America! The man did a little research…and bam pow! an alternative energy activist is born. If you’re like most Americans and spend more time than you should starring at a screen (computer or TV), you’ve most likely seen his commercials. They feature the self-proclaimed “man with a plan” preaching the urgency of our environmental and economic crises, and offering a solution: The Pickens Plan.
Mr. Pickens’ layout calls for building new wind generation facilities and switching (firstly commercial) vehicles to run on natural gas instead of refined oil. Then, he will harness the power of the wind turbines, creating energy to replace the electricity that was previously supplied by natural gas. While reading his scheme, I couldn’t help but notice that he never mentions anything about Americans slowing down the pace of our energy usage. Perhaps we’d like to believe that we don’t need to change our lifestyles, but there simply aren’t enough resources for us to be consuming at the rate that we do. Although Mr. Pickens would disagree with me.
When discussing the future plans for alternative energy resources, particularly for transportation, on The Daily Show, he assured us that “[i]n America, we’re gonna walk when we wanna walk, not ’cause we have to walk”. This outdated and dare I say arrogant attitude is especially worrisome, considering that Mr. Pickens has started to accumulate an even more precious resource.
“Heck, isn’t it like oil? You have to come back to who owns the water. The groundwater is owned by the landowner. That’s it.”
Pickens owns more water than anyone else in the United states. Texas has very loose laws on pumping ground water, which makes it a perfect location for his Mesa Vista ranch. It’s located on the Northeastern region on the “panhandle”, and rests conveniently atop of one of the world’s largest aquifers. He plans to sell his 65 billion gallons of “blue gold” a year to Dallas, transporting it over 250 miles. Dallas hasn’t agreed to the deal yet, but Pickens doesn’t seem concerned. He believes that “[t]here are people who will buy the water when they need it.” And he’s right: we will need it soon, as many experts are projecting a global fresh-water crisis heading straight towards us. And Thunder Boone Pickens is going to be there to sell it to us at whatever price he wants.
I can’t help but think back to a quote often attributed to Chief Seattle:
belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood
that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is
merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does
to himself.”
Now, for you nit-pickers out there, yes, it wasn’t Chief Seattle who said it…. but regardless of where it came from, it’s somehow rather fitting.