Here’s a quick roundup of eminent domain related stories news around Texas.
Farm Bureau testifies in support of eminent domain reform
Source: Texas Farm Bureau Press Release
Texas private property owners need and deserve fairness and transparency when their land is taken with eminent domain, Texas Farm Bureau President Russell Boening told a House committee today.
He testified in support of SB 421 at a public hearing of the House Committee on Land and Resource Management.
The bill, authored by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Rep. DeWayne Burns, aims to help Texans who face losing their private property through forced condemnation.
“We understand the need for eminent domain,” Boening said. “We just want a fair process and the just compensation guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Hays County and Kyle sign on to join stakeholders in legal action against Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway Pipeline
Source: Community Impact Newspaper
In the midst of growing regional outcry against Kinder Morgan’s proposed Permian Highway Pipeline, Hays County and the city of Kyle on April 16 officially decided to take the battle over the proposed pipeline route to the courtroom.
Both the Hays County Commissioners Court and Kyle City Council unanimously voted at their meetings Tuesday to enter into an agreement with Richards, Rodriguez & Skeith LLP and the legal office of Max Renea Hicks for legal representation in filing suit against Kinder Morgan and the Texas Railroad Commission in relation to the Permian Highway Pipeline.
Round Rock advances regional deep water intake pipeline using eminent domain
Source: Community Impact Newspaper
Plans to pipe water from Lake Travis to the cities of Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander advanced March 28.
Round Rock City Council voted 7-0 to use the power of eminent domain to acquire two properties under which it will build the pipeline. Eminent domain allows a government to take private property for public use with payment.
The action tonight advances plans for a regional water facility at Lake Travis. The Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, a regional water system, signed agreements with Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander city councils for the facility in 2017. While Round Rock at this time does not get any water from Lake Travis, it is a partner in the endeavor with plans to draw water in the future.
Walker County landowner: Pipeline caused ‘major damage’ to property
Source: Cleburne Times-Review
Harold Pullins often reminisces about the decades he’s owned his 27 acres a few miles north of Huntsville — hunting with his son, spending holidays there with his family and watching cows and horses graze in his near five acre pasture.
Until last year, Pullins, 81, was able to rest on his land at Louis Voan Road with his wife as he raised livestock. However, now his property has been “a mess for over a year, with no end in sight,” due to a 30-inch pipeline running down the middle of his pasture.
“That’s 50 feet right through the middle of my property that’s good for nothing now,” Pullins said, surveying the stretch of land that now resembles a long sandy road. “I couldn’t plant anything with this mess out here, to where I had to go spend hundreds of dollars on hay.”
