Find out the latest in Texas eminent domain news.
Kinder Morgan downplays Hays County road permissions
Source: Hays Free Press
Kinder Morgan downplayed the impact of a decision by Hays County Commissioners to rescind permission to cross county roads. That decision was made in the wake of a construction accident March 28 that sent tens
of thousands of gallons of drilling mud and drilling fluid into the Trinity Aquifer.
More than a month later, work remains stalled at that site in Blanco County near Chimney Rock Road.
More charges fly in pipeline protest
Source: Hays Free Press
More salvos were fired … in the ongoing fight between Hill Country landowners, environmentalists and energy giant Kinder Morgan.
The Wimberley Valley Watershed Association (WVWA) and the Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA) have jointly threatened to sue Kinder Morgan after the company’s contractors breached a karst feature March 28 during construction of the Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP), which fouled nearby wells.
Come and take it? Not so fast
Source: Dallas Business Journal
Texas Central said it could begin construction as soon as this year on its proposed high-speed rail link between Dallas and Houston. But critics were skeptical of that timeline even before the pandemic struck.
For years, Texas Central has been saying the start of construction is just around the corner — yet no dirt has been turned. And the company still faces several hurdles that could take years to overcome, including whether it legally has eminent domain authority.
How to erase a neighborhood
Source: Texas Monthly
The East End neighborhood in Freeport was once a thriving community. Today, its few remaining residents are about to be pushed out. What happened?
Most of the families who used to live here have sold their properties to Port Freeport, which is planning to deepen its ship channels and expand its footprint into the East End, converting the residential neighborhood into a complex of warehouses and U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities.
In October, the port’s six elected commissioners voted to use eminent domain to take over the remaining pockets of the neighborhood owned by private citizens.
House probe: Energy regulators almost always side with gas pipeline companies
Source: The Hill
A probe conducted by the House Oversight and Reform Committee has found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) consistently sides with natural gas pipeline companies over property owners in certain land disputes.
The committee found that in more than 99 percent of cases over the past 20 years, FERC has decided to give natural gas pipeline companies eminent domain; the move was approved 1,021 times and only rejected six times.