8 Points. Opposition to Pipelines by Rural Land Owners in Oil Country.

A lawyer representing rural landowners writes:

• Private for-profit companies are given the government’s power to take private property under assumptions that this is good, common good
• Are we rubber stamping common good projects for public use/benefit?
• Why are we taking land before the process is approved by the courts?
• We need to look at the costs and benefits of eminent domain
• What happens to old pipelines and how does this get factored into the costs and benefits?
• Landowners are in an unfair situation when a deep pocketed private company uses eminent domain
• Landowners are paying for lawyers and that’s not factored into court awards
• What about the costs to re-arranging farming and ranching activities to schedule around pipeline construction?

He also suggests this reading:

With The Largest Oil Find In History in West Texas, Are Eminent Domain Laws Fair?” by Thure Cannon of the Texas Pipeline Association

“Texas Landowners Subsidize Pipelines and Powerlines” by Brian McLaughlin, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association director

San Angelo Live Opinion | The Race to Build Pipelines from the Permian to the Gulf Coast is Trampling over Landowners’ Rights