A challenge to state law that allows private companies to take land for pipelines will not be heard by the Supreme Court of Texas. Julia Trigg Crawford, a Northeast Texas landowner has been fighting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline for several years. Crawford has lost several rounds and appeals in her case that argues her [...]
When it comes to settling disputes over who owns the oil & gas in Texas, the state’s law struck a federal judge as anything but fair. After reviewing an opinion by the Texas Supreme Court, he said it was more like theft. “The Garza opinion gives oil and gas operators a blank check to steal [...]
Today in a Beaumont courthouse, Jefferson County Judge Tom Rugg will hear yet another case concerning the Keystone XL pipeline. As we’ve reported, the Canadian company TransCanada has visited a few Texas courthouses lately. Always at issue is whether it can take private property in Texas to build the Keystone XL pipeline. And Judge Rugg [...]
For the third time, The Texas Supreme Court has ruled against a pipeline company’s use of eminent domain. But the oil and gas industry did not give this one up without a fight. Here’s some background: In a landmark ruling at the Texas Supreme Court last August, a rice farmer in Beaumont (along with a [...]
Earlier this week the state house Committee of Land and Resource Management heard invited testimony on the state of eminent domain in Texas.
A recent ruling by the Texas Supreme Court wasn’t very well-received by the General Land Office (GLO). In a 5–3 opinion, the Court ruled that the GLO couldn’t force a beachfront homeowner, Carol Severance, to move her house after a Hurricane eroded the public beach in front of it. After the hurricane, that beach was gone, [...]
Planning to go to a Texas beach this summer? If you’re hoping to hit the public beach at Galveston’s West End, you might find it’s now private property, thanks to a new ruling from the Texas Supreme Court. In a 5-3 opinion, the Court ruled that “the State claims that it is entitled to an easement on [...]
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