Keystone XL Pipeline: Texas Farmer Wins Temporary Restraining Order Against TransCanada

A coalition of environmentalists, conservative property rights activists and landowners are mounting a full court press against TransCanada in an attempt to derail the oil company's attempts to build the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in Texas. On Monday, they won a small victory when a Lamar County judge issued a temporary restraining order against the company's plans to do construction work on a farm near Paris, Texas.

The coalition's efforts are reminiscent of another battle during the last decade over eminent domain in Texas, concerning a massive "superhighway," known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, that Republican Gov. Rick Perry had sought to build with the help of a Spanish company. Perry lost that fight to a coalition of conservative ranchers and environmentalists, dealing him a serious political blow.

"We are involved because it's starting to look a whole lot like the Trans-Texas Corridor battle," said Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom. "When push comes to shove, it's clear to me that my party is more interested in oil and gas interests than property rights," added Hall, a Republican.

Debra Medina, a property rights activist and Republican, has counted 89 cases so far in Texas where TransCanada had exercised eminent domain, she said. The company cites the pipeline's status as a "common carrier" under Texas law as the reason for its ability to use governmental power to take land. Eminent domain battles have periodically erupted as TransCanada has bought easements on property for the pipeline that would cross six U.S. states if built.

The company has generally tried to settle with landowners, or route the pipeline around those who refuse compensation terms. But in Lamar County, the pipeline company took Julia Trigg Crawford's farm by eminent domain. Crawford's lawyer asked for a temporary restraining order, disputing the notion that the pipeline is a "common carrier" as Texas law requires for eminent domain and questioning whether the company adequately considered the Caddo tribe artifacts on Crawford's land.

On Monday, County Court at Law Judge Bill Harris said the company couldn't go forward with construction on the land at least until a Feb. 24 court hearing. TransCanada had refused to consent to a "standstill" agreement that would have prevented work on the pipeline until March 1.

"I would never categorize myself as an environmentalist," Crawford told HuffPost. "I'm just a steward of my family's land." She lives with her 78-year-old father on a 600-acre farm near Paris that her grandfather bought in 1948. "I have no political affiliation," she said. "I'm just a girl that wants to protect a thing my grandfather bought."

The farm owner also alleges that TransCanada behaved in a "duplicitous" manner when it claimed it had already secured all the necessary permits for the pipeline.

"The eminent domain process is well established, and we follow the process that is set out by law in each state," TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said in a statement. "In Texas, we already have easement agreements in place with over 99 per cent of the landowners along the in-state portion of Keystone XL."

Despite the Obama administration's recent decision denying an environmental permit for the pipeline, which would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands to Texas refineries, TransCanada is pressing forward with its plans to apply for another permit. The company announced in an earnings report on Tuesday that it expected the pipeline to start operating in 2015.

Comments

[thinkaboutit4]

08:16 PM on 03/08/2012

Why can't they use existing pipeline easements and simply run another pipeline along existing lines. In my opinion this is nothing but as land grab. Stop them from using eminent domain at all costs. Make them build along existing lines.

[gtones]

08:24 PM on 02/26/2012

It seems strange from in my opinion, given I don't know all the facts...that an outside entity, regardless of what kind, should be able to ignore the personal will and laws of a local government, when even the president is telling them no. That's outrageous! Who does TransAmerica think they are?

[eddy9]

03:46 PM on 02/26/2012

I do not believe eminent domain can be applied by the State or the Federal government let alone a foreign corporation unless they owned the land in the past. Several attempted takings by eminent domain have been stopped in the Southwest because the land was originally a Spanish or Mexican Land Grant. Taking something back requires that you must have had it before. In order for a state or federal government to have eminent domain they first must have had domain sometime in the past. Not sure if this would apply, but Texas was a republic before it became a state, therefore much of the land in Texas was owned by private parties prior to statehood and was never owned by the State or Federal Government.

[phantomcat]

04:50 PM on 02/25/2012

Canadian Company runs rough shod over our country. Nothing can stop them.

[Sandy Bos]

09:57 AM on 02/24/2012

How arrogant . . .

[YBLogical]

09:58 AM on 02/23/2012

"The company announced in an earnings report on Tuesday that it expected the pipeline to start operating in 2015."... They seem pretty confidant this will be approved and they can go forward. We have to do everything humanly possible to make sure it doesn't. No foreign entity has the right to confiscate US lands under eminent domain. We have to stand up now.

[phantomcat]

05:09 PM on 02/25/2012

How do we stand up? It is going forward. Even Obama can't stop them apparently. I have written and signed letters and marched. Not enough people care and as gas prices continue to rise and they will till they get to $5.00 per gallon...The people have spoken pro and con and no one is listening. It appears they cannot be stopped. Anyone got any good ideas to stop them? I would love to hear what they are.

[Mar14]

01:24 AM on 02/19/2012

If the bill for the Keystone XL Pipeline has not yet gone through the Senate, then what is going on?:

"A property rights coalition tracking the condemnation proceedings has uncovered at least 89 land condemnation lawsuits involving TransCanada in 17 counties from the Red River to the Gulf Coast — cases that could test the limits of a private company's power to condemn property." - The Texas Tribune

Julia Crawford was told by TransCanada that they were going to start construction on her property on March 1st.

[Klaus Plikat]

05:44 PM on 02/18/2012

I would much rather see this pipeline build and pay the Canadians then the Iranians and the Saudis. As for the fear of a rupture just look at the Alaska Pipeline from Prudoe Bay to Veldez.
There has never been a huge spill in the last 40 some years and that was before they XRAY each weld and inspect it like they do now. You all should be more worried about the existing 30 to 40 year old Natural Gas pipelines that might blow up and wipe out a Town. As far as the Mice and Gophers are concerned they can relocate. We need to get the Tree huggers out of this conversation !!!

[centsable]

10:49 AM on 02/23/2012

You do know the United States gets the majority of it's oil from......CANADA!!!

[Carrina Hanson]

10:42 AM on 02/24/2012

I would rather not pay any of them. The point is that TransCanada has violated the law in thinking they are going to move forward with this plan even after they have been denied a permit. Based on that alone, I hope those SOB's company goes under.

PS, it isn't only the tree huggers that are against this. 800,000 people with different view points, conservative and liberal, have said no in just one day. After some of my own research, I am not real keen on this pipeline myself. There is no benefit to the USA with this line, and their claims that it will produce US jobs is nothing more then a gimmick.

[Robert Lee Harrington]

02:57 PM on 02/18/2012

HELL FREEZES OVER

I salute members of the Tea Party who go against the mindless rhetoric of the GOP and demonstrate their opposition to the seizure of their private property by a foreign corporation; for a project which has no benefit to the USA.

[mistergg69]

09:17 PM on 02/16/2012

If a Republican gets into the White House the pipeline will be approved. OBAMA 2012

[Mar14]

10:25 AM on 02/16/2012

"But in Lamar County, the pipeline company took Julia Trigg Crawford's farm by eminent domain." -- What gives a FOREIGN company the right to do this? The Republicans may scam their way through the approval process, but as of today, this pipeline HAS NOT been approved by the U.S. Government.

[Winterseeker]

09:45 AM on 02/16/2012

What an inspiring story, farmers need to rise up together to defend their rights and the increasingly precious land they sow - I hope foresight and deep ecology can win this battle, our environment is already too fragmented to lose any more.

[cosmicdart]

08:27 AM on 02/16/2012

Beware of this Danger!

If they build this XL pipeline, how do they propose to protect it from sabotage should we have a conventional war with another Nation who has Rail Gun weapons capable of hitting this pipeline with metallic projectiles coming in at 100 times the speed of a rifle bullet down out of sub-orbit. Each round would dig deep into the earth destroying this buried pipeline causing tar muck to spill willy nilly into our agricultural aquifers. Our nuclear power plants would also be knocked out the same way. They would destroy us with our own pipelines and nuclear power plants as thousands of screaming glowing projectiles come in per minute in the first hours of such a conventional war. We'd wipe them out I'm sure, but only at great ecological cost to ourselves as tar muck and radiation spread over our nation. We need a world at peace! How do we do that?

[schrodster]

02:15 PM on 02/16/2012

First thing you do; come out from under your bed.

[old soil guy]

01:23 AM on 02/16/2012

Grew up on a dryland farm in northcentral MT, and we had cows too. My grandfather homesteaded the place. Worked with farmers and ranchers for nearly 37 yrs. By far most do want to do the right thing for their land and take care of it. Sometimes USDA programs and the bankers don't always let them. Even though most vote conservative they are mostly conservationists. And more than just a few are progressives, conservative progressives (as opposed to the mythical progressive conservative). I'm not talking about the big corporate farms, although most farmers have some type of incorporation.

[windweaver]

10:40 PM on 02/15/2012

As far as I'm concerned there is no way, whatsoever, that a foreign corporation should be able to use "Imminent Domain" to take land away from U.S. citizens. To allow this to happen is the height of injustice, and corruption. This should not be allowed under any circumstances. This is not What the "Imminent Domain" laws were written for!

[MountainMarge]

08:44 AM on 02/16/2012

Agree, windweaver! Fanned and faved for this comment!

[windweaver]

10:46 AM on 02/16/2012

The people really need to start standing up against this sort of thing. We Americans, as a people in general, have gotten far too complacent, and are letting the banks, the corporations, and the government get away with far too much that we don't approve of. It's time to turn off the "reality shows" and ESPN and start paying attention to what's going on around us. Otherwise by the time we realize that we''re no longer a free country, it will be far too late to do anything about it.