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Pickens abandons massive wind farm in Texas

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HOUSTON – Plans for the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he's looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.

Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall — taller than most 30-story buildings.

"When I start receiving those turbines, I've got to ... like I said, my garage won't hold them," the legendary Texas oilman said. "They've got to go someplace."

Pickens' company Mesa Power ordered the turbines from General Electric Co. — a $2 billion investment — a little more than a year ago. Pickens said he has leases on about 200,000 acres in Texas that were planned for the project, and he might place some of the turbines there, but he's also looking for smaller wind projects to participate in. He said he's looking at potential sites in the Midwest and Canada.

In Texas, the problem lies in getting power from the proposed site in the Panhandle to a distribution system, Pickens said in an interview with The Associated Press in New York. He'd hoped to build his own transmission lines but he said there were technical problems.

Wind power is a big part of the "Pickens Plan," which was announced a year ago Wednesday. Pickens has spent $60 million crisscrossing the country and buying advertising in an effort to reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil.

"It doesn't mean that wind is dead," said Pickens, who runs the Dallas-based energy investment fund BP Capital. "It just means we got a little bit too quick off the blocks."
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InformedTexan
  • added July 08, 2009

49 comments // Pickens abandons massive wind farm in Texas

  •  

    WOW! I didn't know you could "abadon" anything!

    Alex_French
  •  

    The most informed Texan and still no concept of a spellchecker...god bless the great state of irony

    bonesmattingly
  •  

    dude this guy? really america we're waiting to be saved by a private "businessman" again?
    Hey pickens, why not go for geothermal energy?

    RaceBannon
  •  

    Greenwashing water stealer.

    JanforGore
  •  

    what an ass.

    retro_Syl
  •  

    WOW ! Nobody likes the big T.

    larrysnotes
  •  

    Tell me what other "ass" you know spent $2b on nearly 700 giant wind turbines? Obviously he would do anything he could to get the energy transmitted from the panhandle. At least he is getting the eco-ball rolling and every sector is affected by oil prices, this time, low oil prices making it less profitable. At least be glad a seasoned oil man took the leap out of the barrel..

    uberdeft
  •  
    Image...

    I just drove through TX last week, make that across TX, from the border w/ LA to the border in the northern panhandle next to NM and I passed through massive wind farms, they were so awesome. I just stared at them for hours.

    Khidrock
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    Why's everyone bitching? He's going to build the farms....just not right this minute, possibly not right where he said...and it seemed to me that he had a decent reason "In Texas, the problem lies in getting power from the proposed site in the Panhandle to a distribution system, Pickens said in an interview with The Associated Press in New York. He'd hoped to build his own transmission lines but he said there were technical problems." Perhaps I'm confused :-(

    Khidrock
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    JanforGore
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    Exxon-Mobil earned record profits of *fifty billion dollars* last year. How much have they invested in non-polluting, earth-friendly energy projects? Yeah, right. Their interest is in preserving the choke-collar they have around the necks of the public and the politicians.

    Think what investment in an adequate electrical transmission system would mean for this country: immediate jobs, longer term freedom from foreign oil, security -- not just from domestic or foreign terrorists, but also the natural and inevitable deterioration of our infrastructure -- and saving our planet and our cities and our descendants from disaster.

    Scarabus
  •  

    if you're not from texas or surrounding farming states (or a geographer that knows about water rights and the land he specifically bought), then you don't have a clue why this pisses people off right now. he bought the specific land (paying off individuals and farmers and ranchers) solely for the water rights. we were not ignorant - we knew this was coming.. "ohhh, sorry, now that i have the rights to the water and have drilled holes to the aquifer that drains necessary life from many states farmers, i believe i might have the wrong plot".. this is ridiculous. it's seriously criminal. i'd like to see state governments intervene. what an ass. i've always been for wind energy and have even thought about investing in it, but when this guy set the specific boundaries and outlay that he bought and after looking at GIS maps - it's incredible what he's doing. i'm more pissed that probably nothing can be done. man - what an ass.

    i also have to note - the money isn't in wind energy, it's in water. as a billionaire investor, you all know that he knows this and has always been two steps ahead. don't be duped - be smart and realize what he's doing.

    recommended by JanforGore, Elligirl
    outtheinside
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    We are now starting to see how these alternate energy sources are not going to automatically be the solution. It will take many more years of research and planning to increase productivity before the United States and the World truly moves away from oil and fossil fuels.

    brit50
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    At least this guy has the drive to help America. I hope he finds the new location soon... I guess he has to if the wind turbines are on the way already.

    Why not make your own?

    MdrnHpp33
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    Good for him. Why in the hell should he pay for the crap when the good ole sit on your butt and wait for your welfare check liberals will get the money to build it via obamanation

    clownpuncher
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    Unfortunate. This would have done a bit of good.

    Why in the hell would you name your kid T. Boone Pickens in TEXAS, I wonder.

    lolitanimatronic
  •  

    Beyond disappointing . Evil .

    artemis6
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    Pickens was interviewed on PBS radio tonight. He said the project will go through but not until 2013.

    I heard Bush has done the same thing in Paraguay. That the ranch he purchased is over a massive aquifer. Paraguay should kick Bush out and re-take the aquifer.

    futuregen
  •  

    it's gonna take a while to wean texas from the teat of black gold, much more the nation. right now were going through the tantrum stage.

    lighten up on the misspell that's not the point. the point is do something; drive less, make your hot water from solar, turn down your heater, buy and promote energy saving products. you don't have to spend 2 billion to make a difference.

    royulery
  •  

    These eye sores blot the countryside as you approach Midland/Odessa for the Southeast. I'll bet they won't be any prettier when the blades fall off or the towers start to rust.

    manfreddrake
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    Big projects face big hurdles, and often have to be amended -- I know from experience working for large developer clients on projects in the hundreds of millions.

    I'd give anything to work with a ballsy visionary with liquid cash, so I am a big fan of Mr. Pickens' efforts.

    Getting these things done by committee or by government would take decades, so even a false start is A start.

    blackcoatclay
  •  

    Turns out there was more money in natural gas. I'm sure T. Boone had no idea.

    recommended by Elligirl
    JohnA
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    i'm still not understanding why no one has looked into the specific outlay he purchased, the people he had to purchase (with extraordinary costs), and the aquifer below his outlay. most importantly is the DRILLING INTO THE AQUIFER after purchasing the land. ladies and gentlemen, please get past the energy debate and realize what the purchase was about - water rights to starving land + hopeful energy investments in air windmills.. a billionaire doesn't act on hopeful..

    http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2001/07jul/pickens_water.cfm

    http://www.mesawater.com/

    "Mesa Water represents a group of Texas Panhandle landowners, led by Boone Pickens, who put a lot of stock in two basic things . . . land and family.

    For generations, these families have lived and worked in the rolling hills they love. God blessed their land with an underground aquifer filled with naturally pure groundwater. And thanks to the Ogallala Aquifer, these landowners have more water than they can ever use.

    With the population of Texas booming and a perpetual drought predicted to hit our area as soon as 2021, water planners, state and local leaders are looking everywhere for a solution. They know the key to secure, drought-proof, long-term water planning is diversity . . . building reservoirs, encouraging conservation, capturing and purifying runoff and buying water from another region and piping it to where it is needed.

    Today, Mesa Water is ready to sell water to communities that don¹t have enough for the future."

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=31876

    i'm not an activist. i'm not one to babble. i am one for truth and just happen to live in Texas.

    outtheinside
  •  

    I have ten acres I'll take one. please I live on the texas gulf coast where the wind blows 365 days a year lots of room for the thing here

    bailey78
  •  

    Idiot!! He must've gotten word that the govt really has no intentions on using green energy... If they did it would've been done by now... Who spends $2 billion dollars and just throws it out of the window... Something in the milk aint clean!!

    BushDoctor02
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