Case of mistaken identity sheds light on pipeline executive
No, he's not the obscenely rich CEO
Case of mistaken identity sheds light on pipeline executive No, he's not the obscenely rich CEO Check out this story on desmoinesregister.com: http://dmreg.co/1J6n73O
DesMoines Published 11:56 p.m. CT July 17, 2015
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My phone rings. It's a number I don't recognize. I'm gardening. Bad time for a phone call, but I answer anyway.
"Hello, this is Frank Durgin," a voice says. "I'm with CTG Pipeline N Services and I'm looking for Kelcy Warren."
Warren is the head of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company that wants to build the Bakken oil pipeline. Warren is my nemesis. If I'm Batman, he's my Joker. Surely this is a prank. I play along.
"Hi Frank. This is Kelcy," I respond.
Frank goes on to tell me how much he admired the article about me in Bloomberg Business. He wants to sub-contract with ETP, lay some pipeline across Iowa.
Still smelling prank, I say "Sure. Just contact my P.R. guy. His name's Ed Fallon. Work through him."
I give Frank my email address, waiting for the "Haha!" moment when the prankster identifies himself, invites me to a cookout, offers to help weed my garden.
Instead, the next day I get an email from Frank with his bio and company information. Then I get two more phone calls and two text messages.
The guy is persistent. I do a little research. He seems legit.
Do I have a moral obligation to tell Frank the truth?
Or do I continue the unintended deception, perhaps learning something of value that might help those in the path of the pipeline?
I opt for full disclosure, but will at least ask Frank how he feels about climate change and eminent domain.
In the meantime, I check out the Bloomberg article, and learn that:
"Warren's six-bedroom, 13-bathroom home has a chip-and-putt green, a pole-vault pit, a four-lane bowling alley, and a 200-seat theater where the billionaire's musician pals play private concerts. A polished 12-foot section of an oak tree gives his 12-year-old son Klyde's bedroom the feel of a treehouse."
But wait! Bloomberg has just glanced the surface of Warren's astounding opulence:
"Giraffes, javelinas, and a hulking, ill-tempered species of Asian oxen called a gaur roam Warren's 11,000-acre ranch northwest of Austin. He also has ranches in eastern Texas and southwest Colorado, a house on Lake Tahoe, and an island off the coast of Honduras."
Wow. And the obscenely rich wonder why Americans are more and more discontent, ill-tempered ... gaur-like even.
I also learn that Warren's company pays no income tax. Surprise, surprise.
And in defense of his right to lay pipeline through thousands of miles of farmland, Warren shares his feelings about my ilk:
"I don't think it's fair for a few activists to decide what the American people want."
Right. That's us. A few activists: the 74 percent of Iowans opposed to condemning private property for Warren's pipeline. On top of being designated the most American state in the nation recently, Iowa can now claim to be the most activist state as well.
Wait till I break that news to Frank.
ED FALLON of Des Moines is a former Democratic state representative and host of the Fallon Forum. Contact: fallonforum@gmail.com
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