So much for the vaunted Pickens Plan. Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens’ massively publicized scheme to build a $10 billion wind farm in West Texas has discreetly been put on hold. Pickens cites the difficulty securing financing during the credit crisis, but has also told reporters that energy prices would have to rise again before the project becomes economically viable. This underscores the myth about Pickens’ supposedly altruistic motives. The media has often portrayed him as an aging robber baron (and former Swift Boater) reborn as an idealistic green crusader–what use does an octogenarian have for greed, the thinking goes (He’s even a finalist now for Dallas Morning News‘ “Person of the Year”). But I’ve argued that Pickens’ real motive–getting even richer–is exposed by his plays for water rights in West Texas and public subsidies for natural gas in California–two moves adamantly opposed by environmentalists. Perhaps most telling, Pickens recently slashed $10 million from the media campaign he started to promote wind and natural gas. If Pickens himself isn’t going to peddle wind right away, it seems there’s less incentive for him to get everybody else on the wagon.
