advocates that communities escalate rates charged to major water users, in order to encourage conservation.

Texas laws and customs, however, have reflexively backed corporate and landowner rights, regardless of their impact on the common good. In recent years, that one-note boosterism has led to critical water shortages in the most drought-stricken areas of the state.

In Barnhart, Texas, for instance, "the me-first we-never" motto of water rights has bled the town dry for days at a time. Nearby hydraulic fracking gulped down a veritable flood of well water, this during a brutal drought.

The State of Texas is building a pipeline to route water to the town's residents, which is yet another way that Texas taxpayers are funding Big Oil and Big Gas.

A statement released by the Texas Commission on EnvironmentalQuality revealed that approximately 30 towns could run out of water before 2014. Much of the state is experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions.

"It's ridiculous," said Gloria (who requested her real name not be used). "I have friends whose wells have run dry, and it's because their neighbor contracted his well water to the gas companies. He takes the money - hell, he hasn't farmed his land in years - he takes the money and lives over in Lubbock. It's not his problem, but it's our whole way of life drying up because of people like him."

Gloria and her husband live in a rural county on the Texas Panhandle hard hit by the ongoing drought. Breakthroughs in extracting oil from formations previously thought played-out has led to an