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Keystone pipeline blocked from crossing Texas farm
DALLAS — Owners of a northeast Texas farm have obtained a court order to block TransCanada from crossing the farm with a proposed pipeline planned to carry Canadian oil to refineries along the Texas Gulf coast.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/02/16/keystone-pipeline-blocked-from-crossing-texas-farm/
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/02/16/keystone-pipeline-blocked-from-crossing-texas-farm/
7 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I was just coming over to post this related story but I see you have even better news! 
Texas Tribune 2/17/12
Keystone Pipeline Sparks Property Rights Backlash
As the White House and Congress battle it out over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the Canadian company that wants to build it is still using its land-seizure powers to get property easements for the ambitious project.
And it’s ruffling some feathers in a politically conservative patch of Texas.
Several landowners along the proposed pipeline route say TransCanada has bullied them into selling their property by asserting “eminent domain” authority, the same power that governments use to seize land for highways and other public infrastructure projects. A property rights coalition tracking the condemnation proceedings has uncovered at least 89 land condemnation lawsuits involving TransCanada in 17 counties from the Red River to the Gulf Coast — cases that could test the limits of a private company's power to condemn property.
One of the landowners, Lamar County farmer Julia Trigg Crawford, will face off with the pipeline giant on Friday morning at a court hearing in Paris, Texas. Crawford got a rare restraining order halting any further encroachment on her land until questions surrounding TransCanada's right to condemn her property for the pipeline can be resolved.
“I’m just an angry steward of the land,” Crawford said. “A foreign-owned, for-profit, nonpermitted pipeline has taken a Texan’s land. Doesn’t sound right, does it?”
Keystone Pipeline Sparks Property Rights Backlash
As the White House and Congress battle it out over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the Canadian company that wants to build it is still using its land-seizure powers to get property easements for the ambitious project.
And it’s ruffling some feathers in a politically conservative patch of Texas.
Several landowners along the proposed pipeline route say TransCanada has bullied them into selling their property by asserting “eminent domain” authority, the same power that governments use to seize land for highways and other public infrastructure projects. A property rights coalition tracking the condemnation proceedings has uncovered at least 89 land condemnation lawsuits involving TransCanada in 17 counties from the Red River to the Gulf Coast — cases that could test the limits of a private company's power to condemn property.
One of the landowners, Lamar County farmer Julia Trigg Crawford, will face off with the pipeline giant on Friday morning at a court hearing in Paris, Texas. Crawford got a rare restraining order halting any further encroachment on her land until questions surrounding TransCanada's right to condemn her property for the pipeline can be resolved.
“I’m just an angry steward of the land,” Crawford said. “A foreign-owned, for-profit, nonpermitted pipeline has taken a Texan’s land. Doesn’t sound right, does it?”
Congratulations to the Crawford Family!
AAS 2/17/12
Protesters in Austin try to clog pipeline proposal, support North Texas landowner
(snip)
But the protesters outside state offices in Austin — along with Julia Trigg Crawford , the landowner in Paris — wanted to send a message to the company and to Texas policymakers: TransCanada shouldn't have the right to take Texans' land. They said the company has gone too far in its use of eminent domain, the process of taking private land for public use.
TransCanada follows the law and treats landowners with "honesty, fairness and respect," company spokesman Terry Cunha said in a statement Friday. He added that TransCanada has easement agreements in place with more than 99 percent of the landowners along the proposed route.
Crawford, who owns a 600-acre farm in Direct, on the Red River, said she wouldn't oppose the taking of private property through eminent domain for essential purposes, such as delivering water or power to the state's residents. She could even understand taking land for a highway, but not for nonvital reasons, she said.
"When it is used by an entity whose purpose is not charitable, when it is for a for-profit endeavor, that sure doesn't sound good," Crawford said.
Protesters in Austin try to clog pipeline proposal, support North Texas landowner
(snip)
But the protesters outside state offices in Austin — along with Julia Trigg Crawford , the landowner in Paris — wanted to send a message to the company and to Texas policymakers: TransCanada shouldn't have the right to take Texans' land. They said the company has gone too far in its use of eminent domain, the process of taking private land for public use.
TransCanada follows the law and treats landowners with "honesty, fairness and respect," company spokesman Terry Cunha said in a statement Friday. He added that TransCanada has easement agreements in place with more than 99 percent of the landowners along the proposed route.
Crawford, who owns a 600-acre farm in Direct, on the Red River, said she wouldn't oppose the taking of private property through eminent domain for essential purposes, such as delivering water or power to the state's residents. She could even understand taking land for a highway, but not for nonvital reasons, she said.
"When it is used by an entity whose purpose is not charitable, when it is for a for-profit endeavor, that sure doesn't sound good," Crawford said.
