Aa
Presidio County landowner takes fight to Trans-Pecos Pipeline
http://bigbendnow.com/2016/07/presidio-county-landowner-takes-fight-to-trans-pecos-pipeline/
"As numerous landowners in Brewster and Presidio counties still face condemnation hearings, one Far West Texas rancher is taking legal action against the Trans-Pecos Pipeline.
Presidio County landowner John Boerschig is suing the Trans-Pecos Pipeline (TPP) company on the grounds that its use of eminent domain to take private land is unconstitutional. Boerschig faces a condemnation hearing on 13 acres of his nearly 11,000-acre South Shurley Ranch and is also seeking a preliminary injunction against the controversial natural gas pipeline.
Boerschig’s case was filed with the U.S. District Court in Pecos on Friday, July 1. It has implications for broader Texas law: the case asserts that Texas laws granting eminent domain to public utilities violate the clause in the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution prohibiting government from making or enforcing law that deprives Americans of property without due process.
Texas state law grants eminent domain power to companies seeking to condemn land for public utility projects. Boerschig’s case asserts that without a procedure for Texas landowners to challenge a company claiming to be a public utility, such as TPP, the law denies due process rights guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution.
Additionally, the State of Texas does not set any standards regulating the use of eminent domain powers, according to the case citation.
“It’s a no-strings-attached, standardless delegation of government power to a private entity,” Attorney Renae Hicks said. “There’s no accountability, they do not have to report to anyone.” Hicks, an Austin-based attorney, is representing Boerschig in the case.
Texas law, he said, lacks a process to challenge a private company claiming the power of eminent domain for use in the public interest.
As it stands, the law allows TPP control of condemned land after either settling on compensation privately with landowners or after a special commission awards damages to landowners in a public hearing. Either way, all that is to be determined is the value of damages to the remainder of the landowner’s property caused by the pipeline.
TPP’s status as a public utility with eminent domain power can only be legally questioned when the special commission’s award decision is challenged in court. But meanwhile, Texas law allows TPP to take control of the land and to begin working as soon as the amount of the commission’s award is deposited in a district court registry. So while the case is playing out in court, construction of the pipeline is likely to be underway.
“Trans-Pecos should not be able to take possession of someone’s land through eminent domain while we are still waiting to establish if they have the power,” Hicks said.
Trans-Pecos offered Boerschig $16,500 in compensation for the right-of-way that would run across more than two miles of the South Shurley Ranch. Like many other area landowners, Boerschig declined the initial offer. A special commission hearing for TPP’s condemnation hearing against him is scheduled for July 14.
An application for a preliminary injunction against the pipeline has also been filed on Boerschig’s behalf. If accepted, the injunction would block TPP from beginning work on his land until the lawsuit is settled.
“Texas law would allow this forcible possession of private property by Trans-Pecos without affording Mr. Boerschig any advance opportunity to judicially challenge Trans-Pecos’s right to take his property,” according to the injunction request.
“I do not want Trans-Pecos, a private entity, to be able to take possession and begin construction-related activities for its pipeline… until is has been judicially determined that Trans-Pecos has a legal right to condemn and forcibly take my property,” Boerschig wrote in a declaration attached to the injunction request. “Trans-Pecos’s construction activities would damage my property in ways that would be difficult financially and likely impossible physically to repair.”
Trans-Pecos declined to comment on the lawsuit. “It is company policy that we don’t comment on issues related to pending or current legal actions,” company spokesperson Vicki Anderson Granado said in an email."
"As numerous landowners in Brewster and Presidio counties still face condemnation hearings, one Far West Texas rancher is taking legal action against the Trans-Pecos Pipeline.
Presidio County landowner John Boerschig is suing the Trans-Pecos Pipeline (TPP) company on the grounds that its use of eminent domain to take private land is unconstitutional. Boerschig faces a condemnation hearing on 13 acres of his nearly 11,000-acre South Shurley Ranch and is also seeking a preliminary injunction against the controversial natural gas pipeline.
Boerschig’s case was filed with the U.S. District Court in Pecos on Friday, July 1. It has implications for broader Texas law: the case asserts that Texas laws granting eminent domain to public utilities violate the clause in the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution prohibiting government from making or enforcing law that deprives Americans of property without due process.
Texas state law grants eminent domain power to companies seeking to condemn land for public utility projects. Boerschig’s case asserts that without a procedure for Texas landowners to challenge a company claiming to be a public utility, such as TPP, the law denies due process rights guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution.
Additionally, the State of Texas does not set any standards regulating the use of eminent domain powers, according to the case citation.
“It’s a no-strings-attached, standardless delegation of government power to a private entity,” Attorney Renae Hicks said. “There’s no accountability, they do not have to report to anyone.” Hicks, an Austin-based attorney, is representing Boerschig in the case.
Texas law, he said, lacks a process to challenge a private company claiming the power of eminent domain for use in the public interest.
As it stands, the law allows TPP control of condemned land after either settling on compensation privately with landowners or after a special commission awards damages to landowners in a public hearing. Either way, all that is to be determined is the value of damages to the remainder of the landowner’s property caused by the pipeline.
TPP’s status as a public utility with eminent domain power can only be legally questioned when the special commission’s award decision is challenged in court. But meanwhile, Texas law allows TPP to take control of the land and to begin working as soon as the amount of the commission’s award is deposited in a district court registry. So while the case is playing out in court, construction of the pipeline is likely to be underway.
“Trans-Pecos should not be able to take possession of someone’s land through eminent domain while we are still waiting to establish if they have the power,” Hicks said.
Trans-Pecos offered Boerschig $16,500 in compensation for the right-of-way that would run across more than two miles of the South Shurley Ranch. Like many other area landowners, Boerschig declined the initial offer. A special commission hearing for TPP’s condemnation hearing against him is scheduled for July 14.
An application for a preliminary injunction against the pipeline has also been filed on Boerschig’s behalf. If accepted, the injunction would block TPP from beginning work on his land until the lawsuit is settled.
“Texas law would allow this forcible possession of private property by Trans-Pecos without affording Mr. Boerschig any advance opportunity to judicially challenge Trans-Pecos’s right to take his property,” according to the injunction request.
“I do not want Trans-Pecos, a private entity, to be able to take possession and begin construction-related activities for its pipeline… until is has been judicially determined that Trans-Pecos has a legal right to condemn and forcibly take my property,” Boerschig wrote in a declaration attached to the injunction request. “Trans-Pecos’s construction activities would damage my property in ways that would be difficult financially and likely impossible physically to repair.”
Trans-Pecos declined to comment on the lawsuit. “It is company policy that we don’t comment on issues related to pending or current legal actions,” company spokesperson Vicki Anderson Granado said in an email."
"...Boerschig’s case was filed with the U.S. District Court in Pecos on Friday, July 1. It has implications for broader Texas law: the case asserts that Texas laws granting eminent domain to public utilities violate the clause in the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution prohibiting government from making or enforcing law that deprives Americans of property without due process. ..."
How a multi-national corporation could sieze American citizen's land in order to pump natural gas to Mexico to be liquified and sold to Japan at a profit and be considered 'eminent domain' for the 'common good' is beyond me.
I guess we'll see if Carlos Slim's billions can buy our Supreme Court.
How a multi-national corporation could sieze American citizen's land in order to pump natural gas to Mexico to be liquified and sold to Japan at a profit and be considered 'eminent domain' for the 'common good' is beyond me.
I guess we'll see if Carlos Slim's billions can buy our Supreme Court.
You must join this user group in order to participate in this discussion.
You are reading content posted in the Current Events . . . Group
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
