People with large amounts of wealth are almost always met with distaste by those of us without.
I have seen the ads. I am not well informed on the issue of T-bones motivations and it may not be the "big" answer to the oil situation, but it is sure a source of energy that needs developed aggressively. Yes they are ugly, so are power lines but who amongst us would give up their electricity to free our landscape of that blight?
It will take wealthy people to develop radical energy alternatives, the less than wealthy would be squashed in the attempt, like Schauberger, Tesla, Wilhelm Reich, the Joe cell and any number of other proven workable energy sources that weren't profitable for the wealthy. And yes, they will probably make money doing it.