Welcome to the Future!
What the land owner attorney says about the eminent domain lawsuits for the pipeline to Mexico :
News West 9 | Pipeline company files eminent domain lawsuits against Big Bend landowners
Trib Talk Bracewell & Giuliani | Obstacles to pipeline development highlight Texas’ conservative split
Dr. Mark Miller, the 2014 Libertarian nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, and announced his candidacy for Texas Railroad Commissioner in 2016. From his statement:
“Among them were appropriate regulations for wastewater wells that trigger earthquakes and eminent domain abuse by common carrier pipelines. Sadly, regulations promulgated by the Commission under Porter’s watch turned out to be nothing more than window-dressing, resulting in additional bureaucratic busy-work, but with no…
Trans Pecos is building the international pipeline through Big Bend and ranch lands. One of those ranches believes pipeline representatives entered to survey without permission. This trespass included sinking stakes into the land.
As a result of the pipeline trespass…an impending lawsuit. Its a case of landmen gone wild, threatening cease and desist orders against land owners.
In a 7 year legal tussle over whether Denbury is a common carrier, the 9th Court of Appeals ruled that Denbury is not a common carrier. Sounds innocuous, except that common carrier status grants Denbury, a private pipeline company, the power of eminent domain. Common carrier status comes with great power.
The Legislature tried to fix the common carrier issue in 2013, but an elegant point of order stopped it. In the summer of 2014, the Railroad Commission tried to fix it by rule ma…
SJR 9 by Van Taylor would move the ball toward legislative approval of rule making.
Sound far fetched? It’s not. Other states are doing it:
On par with bill filing rates in 2013, 5 eminent domain related bills have been filed to restrain or prohibit the use of eminent domain or the the taking of private property:
Texas Rice Land Partners Ltd. v. the Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas has been a hot legal topic for years. The repurcussions have been:
Private property rights proponents say the RRC common carrier rules do not go far enough to protect private proeprty rights. 10 years ago, maybe this wouldn’t be a big deal. But, there’s an oil and gas boom in a state that has 97% of its land privately owned. If a private company wants to build a pipeline to move the oil and gas; it’s going to have to deal with private landowners.
Property rights proponents say the common carrier rules are:
This week the Railroad Commission passed rules to address when eminent domain attaches to certain common carriers. The rules will become official March 1st. The fight is making a beeline to the Legislature, which historically favors private property rights.
Background: This eminent domain fight began because of court cases, which sided with landowners & private property rights. Legislation moved forward in 2013, but died on an elegant point of order. [ Posted in2013 legislation, compensation, easement, legal trend, legislation trend, pipelines/common carriers, private company, private property rights, process & procedure, railroad commission