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comments about this story Posted: September 27, 2007
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Water Works Pickens proposes Roberts County water district MIAMI — Boone Pickens is once again planning to establish a freshwater supply district in Roberts County. Five people associated with the Roberts County rancher and Dallas businessman petitioned the County Commissioners Court on Aug. 6 for a freshwater supply district on eight acres of land just south of the Canadian River and about 15 miles west of state Highway 70. In 2003, Pickens petitioned the court for a 46,000-acre freshwater supply district in connection with his plans to pump and sell groundwater to metropolitan areas downstate. Bill Philpott of Miami then petitioned the court for a countywide freshwater supply district. When Roberts County Attorney Leslie Breeding asked for an Attorney General's Opinion concerning the legality of the districts, the petitions were withdrawn, as was the request for an AG opinion. Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook said this week that a hearing on the new petition is scheduled for 9 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 4, in the district courtroom of the Roberts County Courthouse. Cook said that following the public hearing, he expected the Commission to take the testimony under advisement and rule on the petition during its regular meeting at 9 a.m., Monday, Sept. 10. He said his understanding is that Mesa Water officials want the issue on the November ballot. Only those people with property within the proposed district would vote on the establishment of a freshwater supply district. The proposed directors of the district are Robert L. Stillwell, general counsel of Mesa Water; Ronald D. Bassett, one of the business managers with Pickens; G. Michael Boswell, general counsel of Mesa Energy and the manager of Pickens' ranch; and his wife, Alton Keith Boone; and Lu G. Boone. The process for establishing a freshwater supply district was streamlined during the last session of the Texas Legislature. Among the changes in the law, directors need only own land within the district. They need not live there, but they do need to be residents of the state. Under the old statute, directors had to live within the district. As a political subdivision of the state, the water district would have taxing authority within the district, the ability to issue tax-free revenue bonds and the power of eminent domain. The last would be crucial for a right of way from the Panhandle to metropolitan areas that can afford and are willing to pay for water and electricity. In addition to Mesa Water, Pickens has established Mesa Energy, a company designed to build wind farms, a coal-fired power plant and a natural-gas-fired power plant, along with transmission lines to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. At a meeting earlier this month in Pampa with area landowners, Mesa Energy officials said they are planning a transmission line along right of way from Roberts County to Anna, north of McKinney. They said that would be the same right of way that would carry an aqueduct for Mesa Water. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: August 30, 2007 |