{"id":30096,"date":"2013-07-29T11:16:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T16:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=30096"},"modified":"2013-08-13T15:49:52","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T20:49:52","slug":"as-drilling-expands-so-do-fights-over-land-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/07\/29\/as-drilling-expands-so-do-fights-over-land-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"As Drilling Expands, So Do Fights Over Land Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"William<\/a>

Photo by Mose Bochele.<\/p>

William Christian is a lawyer with Graves Dougherty Hearon Moody. Part of his practice involves representing landowners in condemnation cases.<\/p><\/div>\n

Texas is a funny place when it comes to property rights.<\/p>\n

State Supreme Court rulings<\/a> have said pipeline companies are not doing enough to prove they can take private land. Meanwhile, an unprecedented boom in oil and gas drilling means those same companies are scrambling to put more pipeline in the ground. The result has been an explosion in litigation over how and when companies are able to take private land.<\/p>\n

But while Texas may be ground zero in the struggle over eminent domain, industry representatives and legal experts are seeing more Texas-style battles in other parts of the country as drilling and pipeline building expand.<\/p>\n

A study by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America<\/a>, or INGAA, estimates the U.S. will need 2000 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline<\/a> per year. That will cost roughly $8 billion annually. And remember, that\u2019s just natural gas. Oil and other fuels will need their own infrastructure.<\/p>\n

That means a lot of pipeline going through a lot of private land, and that will likely mean even more lawsuits.<\/p>\n

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