Should Have Called Midas

T. Boone Pickens finds himself with unexpected transmission problems:

Horrors! Can it be possible? Texas multi-billionaire T. Boone Pickens- falling victim to a “boone”doggle? And worse, one of his own making?

But in any event, Mr. Pickens has now been left holding the bag: 687 giant (30 ft.) wind turbines- each costing a “cool” 2 million apiece.

Everyone recalls the ‘folksy” Mr. Pickens from his glorious TV commercial from last fall:

Pickens- ever the optimist- would appear on the screen, touting …”Windmills will be America’s new ‘clean energy’ answer;” and then the obligatory…”plus reduce our dependency on foreign oil.”

But after blowing $1.5 billion of his own money, the Texas T-Bone will no doubt be reducing his dependency on Barack Obama, who seems to have reneged on part of a secret deal.

On paper, Picken’s “can’t-miss” idea looked uttterly Utopian:

a) construct a giant windfarm in Texas’ desolate, windy Panhandle area
b) transmit wind-powered electricity to cities in the central & southern part of the state
c) rake in the profits

But then arose (supposedly) a problem of the “missing link:” How to get electricity from point A – the Panhandle- to point B, the urban areas, where the power was needed.

In talking to the media, Pickens – trying to appear un-perplexed- claimed, “There were technical problems in getting transmission lines built”…and…”I’m putting the project on hold for now.”