T. Boone Pickens Wants Water With His Steak.

Ex Oilman T.  Boone Pickens has made a water investment in the area of $100 million so far to acquire water rights throughout the Texas panhandle. According to Business Week, Pickens owns more water than any other individual in the country through water rights in the Ogallala aquifer. And Pickens is still acquiring water assets.  Clearly, Pickens thinks there is big money in H20.

So why the big interest in water?

Here is Picken’s play: 

The land he has acquired has thirsty cities on one side and water on the other. And although Texas’ rivers, lakes, and streams belong to the state, underground water is up for grabs. So Pickens aims to capture water that he calls “surplus” and “stranded” water.

Why is there a need for Pickens’ “stranded water”? Because in parts of Texas, like in many other growing cities in the United States, areas are dealing with a water scarcity issue due to increased usage, drought, climate change and population trends. Simply put, agencies have to go farther away to find that next gallon of water than they had to in the past. The result is a requirement for longer pipelines and more water resources.

First on T. Boone’s list of target cities to supply water to is Dallas. He’s currently working on a deal to build a pipeline from the Texas Panhandle to Big D.  But like any potentially lucrative business venture, there are challenges however.

Building a water pipeline to Dallas would require negotiations with hundreds of inconveniently situated landowners. His only hope might be to force land owners to sell him their land . . . like through state-mandated eminent domain! That’s where Pickens’s political savvy dovetails with his inscrutable business interests. Not just anyone can exercise the right of eminent domain. According to BW, Pickens had his lobbyists exert pressure on the Texas legislature to give joint energy and water transmission lines right-of-way. To get the power of eminent domain Pickens formed his own eight-acre water district on his property and now has the power to annex land “for the common good.”

In April Pickens sent 1,100 letters out to landowners along the 250-mile corridor he wants to build on. Pickens is confident he’ll be able to get all the land he needs for about $30 million and plans to start building a $1.5 billion water pipeline with a $2 billion electrical transmission line above.

But Pickens’s lobbying powers aren’t limited to the Lone Star state. Pickens recently testified in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Pickens told Congress to expand the scope of eminent domain and right-of-way, which are currently controlled at the state level, so companies like his Mesa Wind and Water can operate across state lines.

“All I’m doing is selling surplus water,” Pickens tells Business Week.