Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Pipeline Nightmare

Been dealing with a Targa pipeline nightmare. About two years since they notified me they were going to build a pipeline on my property in Eastland County Texas. A 24 inch high pressure liquid natural gas pipeline. Targa has eminent domain and is a huge Fortune 500 company. They would not change the pipeline route, would not bore, and will not fix erosion problems caused by the pipeline. I have hired two attorneys, a wildlife expert and an appraiser. They have removed over 700 trees, destroyed 4+ acres of habitat, cut the property in half, destroyed the watershed to a 1/3 acre nursery pond and disrupted the use of Tentmaker since January of 2023. We are in “negotiations “ on a settlement price. They are in no hurry to settle since the pipeline is in place.
Any advice? Thanks, David

I don’t give legal advice but find that a local judge and jury might be your best bet.

Sorry to hear about such a problem.

Two attorneys should be giving you good legal advice.

My advice: document, document, document!

The settlement amount should be based on "real damages". Grown trees are very valuable, take pics of the surrounding trees after they cut through (if you don't already have "before" pics). Loss of wildlife habitat is also damage, especially if you can document your prior hunting and fishing on the property. Ruining a pond is also damage, and quite expensive since construction costs on a replacement pond will be considerable!

They should actually be taking actions right now to stop/minimize erosion. That is doubly in their self interest since they will have to pay you for damages due to erosion, and erosion that exposes the pipeline can cause damages and/or significant liability on their end.

Basically, I would document every kind of damage and lost use you can reasonably support. They will probably make a low-ball offer to your attorney. He should then counter high. When Targa does not accept that, he can send over your exhaustive documentation. They will not want to go to court where your attorney keeps introducing documented additional damages that they have not covered in their settlement offer.

IANAL. However, my wife did an oil & gas section while getting her degree at SMU Law School in addition to her property law training.

We recently bought some property that has a similar gas line on it. It splits our property at a diagonal with close to 2/3 North and 1/3 South of gas line. Our is similar in the 24" size and it's typically 2' below the surface, has a 50' easement (25' each side) and no permanent structure or tree can be placed within the easement. The gas line was installed long ago and the property was AG for crops and brome in the waterway. There is no maintenance they provide for the dirt above but if they need to do work on the pipe they are supposed to restore the property to what it was before they did the work.

I can offer you no legal advice but as a property owner if I was in your place I'd be looking for annual payments of some sort that are transferable to new owners should the property ever sell as the gas line will be there "forever" and you will "never" be able to really use that part of the property while it is there. The owner of the gas line however will make money on the gas line on the property the entire time it is there.

Best of luck to you on getting the land restored as best you can.

If you don't have "before" pics of the lost trees, take pictures of their stumps, if possible. Given size and species, a Forester can give a value.

Thanks for your input. I do have complete documentation on the trees removed. My attorney advises me that in Texas easement law trees have no value. I think maybe my attorney went to the same law school as Trump’s attorneys. The Targa pipeline is a for profit pipeline. The gas will flow to a port in the Gulf, then be sold to the highest bidder and then loaded on a ship. In Texas pipelines are king and the law always favors the pipeline. The first contact you will have from a pipeline is a letter about surveys and that they have eminent domain. Texas has given them the right to take your property. If you are contacted about an easement on your property, seek legal help and do not believe anything the entity says.Thanks for letting me vent, time to go fishing. David

Sorry that is happening to you! I would be so pissed off. This is a side of fossil fuels that is rarely reported unless it goes through an Indian reservation. But green energy is the bad guy when the landowner gets paid for the solar farm harvest! Imagine how many acres of land all the pipelines that lead to the gulf are using.

Emanate domain in NY I believe forces the company to give you money first before construction begins for the value of what has been taken as appraised by an independent group. Of course, when homes in Rochester NY were removed to put in a failed city highway loop, it was all people of color and they were given peanuts to have the neighborhoods cut in half. A seemingly deliberate attack.
It worked. The once vibrant neighborhoods fell apart.