House Bill 4805, sponsored by Tom Craddick (R-Midland), would create the West Texas Water Supply District. The proposed legislation would create an agency that could transport water 130 miles, roughly the distance from land owned by oil entrepreneur Clayton Williams to Craddick’s district, Midland.

You may recall that back in 2002 and 2003 another water-exporting scheme was proposed by Steve Smith of Austin under Rio Nuevo Ltd. and Rio Nuevo Management. Under that proposal, Rio Nuevo would have leases hundreds of thousands of state-owned land in West Texas, pump the water to export it and deliver it elsewhere.

According to Williams’ spokesperson Joe Milam, the proposed water district would raise $4.3 million in tax revenue for Pecos County, $2.4 million for the county school district, and $1.9 million for the county itself. The district would also create 463 construction jobs and 190 permanent jobs.

Yet perhaps what is appalling about H.B. 4805 is who the initial directors of the district would be. Lets look at the potential directors and their employers (for one director, it’s a former employer).
PAUL LATHAM, Employer: Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.

Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. Latham is the sole general partner of The Williams Children’s Partnership, Ltd. (“WCPL”), a limited partnership in which the adult children of Clayton W. Williams, Jr. are the limited partners. Latham serves as a director of numerous Williams-controlled companies.

T. MARK TISDALE, Employer: Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.

Age 52, is Vice President and General Counsel of Clayton Williams Energy, Inc., having served in this capacity since 1993. Tisdale serves as a director of numerous Williams controlled companies.

MITCH MALOUF, Employer: Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.

When contacted by the Gazette and asked about the bill, Mr. Malouf said, “I have noting to do with that.” When reminded he was listed in the proposed legislation as a director, Malouf acknowledged he knew he was listed as such – and either hung up or the phone line went bad. Repeated requests for comment from Malouf were not returned. Malouf also serves as a director of numerous Williams-controlled companies.

BROCK THOMPSON, Employer: Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.

Thompson, too, serves as a director of numerous Williams-controlled companies.

ROBERT RENDALL, Former Employer: Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.

Rendall is former corporate counsel to Clayton Williams Energy.

Long ago, the Clayton Act made certain practices illegal, among them interlocking directorates where the board of directors of one company can’t sit on the board of two or more competing companies. It is all but impossible to think that a public water supply district whose directors all work or have worked for the same private corporation will act in the public interest.

As The Texas Observer plainly stated, Craddick “has shamelessly defended as-special-interest-as-it-gets legislation crafted specifically to promote one guy’s scheme to export water from his farm to other places in West Texas.”

And while the Rio Nuevo proposal may be a fading memory, don’t be fooled: both Rio Nuevo Ltd., and Rio Nuevo Management are corporations registered with the state, their corporate status current and in good standing.

Most glaringly, if passed, this legislation would set a dangerous precedent of allowing a private corporation’s current and former employees to run a public agency. Mr Craddick’s legislation stinks of rotten cronyism sweltering in the scorching May Chihuahuan Desert Sun.