T. Boone Pickens: Oil Tycoon Drilling Water in Texas

Despite his energy investment funds losing $1 billion during this year’s market collapse and his personal loss of about $270 million1, famed oilman T. Boone Pickens still looks to turn his attention from “black gold” to “blue gold.” The billionaire tycoon recently supplemented his property holdings in Roberts County, Texas with 200,000 acres of land atop the Ogallala Aquifer. Under Texas law, this purchase entitles Mesa Water, Pickens’ new company, to take more than 320,000 acre-feet of water, equivalent to more than 104 million gallons, from the property. Pickens plans to pump the water from his land in the state’s north- eastern panhandle and pipe it to Lubbock, El Paso, San Antonio or the Dallas-Fort Worth area.