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doxydad

(1,363 posts)
Fri Jun 13, 2014, 08:15 AM Jun 2014

The Wilks Brothers: Fracking Sugar Daddies For The Far Right

They’re Fracking Billionaires!

Dan and Farris Wilks became successful working in and then running the masonry business that was started by their father; they have now turned the company over to the next generation of Wilks men. But Dan and Farris really hit the big time when they got in on the ground floor with fracking, the controversial natural gas drilling technique that has boomed over the past decade.

The fracking boom has produced a surge in wealthy Texans. In 2002, the Wilks brothers created Frac Tech, which produced equipment used in fracking, or in industry parlance, “well stimulation services.” In May 2011, Dan and Farris sold Frac Tech to a group of investors led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for $3.5 billion. Their share was reportedly 68% of that total, and they showed up on the 2011 Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion each. The most recent Forbes list put their estimated wealth at $1.5 billion each. (In our gilded age, that puts them near the bottom of the Forbes 400, and barely gets them into the top 40 in Texas. But you can still do an awful lot with $3 billion.)

The Wilks brothers have gone on a land-buying spree out West, amassing huge holdings in Montana, Idaho, Texas, Kansas, and Colorado. In December 2012, the Billings Gazette reported that they had amassed more than 276,000 acres in Montana, or more than 430 square miles; more recent reports say they own more than 301,300 acres in the state. Among their purchases was the historic 62,000-acre N Bar Ranch, which had been listed for $45 million.

The brothers reportedly started building an airstrip that summer across from the N Bar Ranch headquarters to make travel to their property on their 18-passenger corporate jet a little easier. The Wilks brothers have proposed a land swap with the Bureau of Land Management to consolidate their holdings; last month their attorney said they were “blindsided” when BLM said it would not trade the 2,700-acre Durfee Hills after hunters complained about losing access to the land and its elk.

In January 2013, they bought a nearly 18,000-acre ranch in Idaho, which brought their total in that state to almost 36,000 acres. In 2011, Farris was reported to have paid $16 million for what was then the most expensive ski-accessible home in the history of Snowmass Village, Colorado.

An Aspen newspaper reported in 2012 that Dan owned two homes in Aspen, one worth $8.3 million and another worth $4.9 million. At the end of 2012 they bought the Advancial Tower, a 17-story skyscraper in Dallas reportedly appraised at $16.25 million. And last August, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that the Wilks brothers had bought 122 acres of land in a business park in Southlake, Texas. Farris also reportedly paid to have a “world class” recording studio installed in his 20,000-square-foot home and to have his church’s audio-visual system similarly upgraded.

Members of the Wilks family have been philanthropists in their hometown over the years, funding, for example, a community center and mobile emergency command post for local fire departments. More recently they have distributing their wealth in support of right-wing causes and conservative politicians. According to Forbes, Dan has six children, Farris has 11.
- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fracking-sugar-daddy-religious-right#sthash.lvtuuupi.dpuf

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The Wilks Brothers: Fracking Sugar Daddies For The Far Right (Original Post) doxydad Jun 2014 OP
The term "philanthropist" was never more thoroughly abused ... nt eppur_se_muova Jun 2014 #1
(not) beautiful - more billionaire pseudo-Christians - the Wilks brothers RussBLib Jun 2014 #2

RussBLib

(8,984 posts)
2. (not) beautiful - more billionaire pseudo-Christians - the Wilks brothers
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 04:50 PM
Jun 2014

Just what we don't need: more billionaire funders of intolerance and hate, all in the name of Jesus! Hallelujah!

I know this also appeared in Right Wing Watch. I wonder how many of these right-wing orgs would wither on the vine if not for their misguided billionaire backers?

http://prospect.org/article/meet-billionaire-brothers-you-never-heard-who-fund-religious-right

It's a war of the billionaires!! In this corner, the Kochs, the Wilks, the Adelsons, the Simmons and devil-knows-who else. In this corner, the Stykers, the Simons, the Soros' and and and....so much for the regular people.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/10/08/the-elections-40-biggest-billionaire-donors-and-why-the-kochs-are-missing/

Still, we can't give up.

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