End of the Line Nears for Texas Landowner’s Fight Against Keystone XL

Photo by Terrence Henry/StateImpact Texas

Landowner Julia Trigg Crawford on her family farm in Northeast Texas along the Oklahoma border.

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 land had been illegally condemned through eminent domain by the pipeline company TransCanada.

As the case has made its way through the courts, TransCanada legally went ahead with construction and began operation of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline through Crawford’s land earlier this year.

“There is apparently a last ask we can make, to ask if the Supreme Court would reconsider their denial,” Crawford says. “But after that, there’s no other step in Texas court.”

Crawford was one of several landowners who clashed with TransCanada over its use of eminent domain to route the pipeline through private land. Many others signed agreements with the company to allow the pipeline on their property. Efforts to reform Texas law, which currently grants eminent domain authority to pipeline companies that simply check a box on a one-page form, fizzled in the most recent state legislature. With a denial of Crawford’s case before the state Supreme Court, it appears there won’t be a resolution to the issue from within the legal system anytime soon.