THE BALLAD OF KELCY WARREN

WHEN HE’S NOT building pipelines, Kelcy Warren likes to write melancholy country ballads. In one, the Texas billionaire sees his girlfriend with his best friend and then takes a solitary drive to New Orleans, where he feels even more lonely in the lively crowd. Another song mourns a lost friend: “Do you ever talk with angels? Put in a word for me.”

Warren is a co-founder and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the conglomerate whose security contractors have deployed pepper spray and snarling dogs against the Native Americans protesting its Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota. He’s laying another contested pipeline, the Trans-Pecos, near Big Bend National Park—hallowed ground to many Texans. He’s spent millions of dollars supporting right-wing politicians. He gave $700,000 to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s political action committee and $6 million to PACS supporting former Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. He also