{"id":38634,"date":"2014-09-22T08:40:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T13:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=38634"},"modified":"2014-09-22T08:40:37","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T13:40:37","slug":"eminent-domain-debate-goes-to-the-railroad-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/09\/22\/eminent-domain-debate-goes-to-the-railroad-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Eminent Domain Debate Goes To The Railroad Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Activists<\/a>

Photo courtesy of Immigrant Workers Films<\/p>

Activists took to the trees to try to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline in East Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last year at a farm in outside of Beaumont, Dick O\u2019Keefe sat at the kitchen table and talked about how a pipeline had come to his land<\/a>. The company had claimed eminent domain powers. O\u2019Keefe was not convinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pipeline companies should have to demonstrate that they have the right of eminent domain before they ever start beating the streets and handing out contracts,” O’Keefe said. “The threshold for them is extremely low.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas Supreme Court agrees with that assessment. In a 2011 decision, the court called the process giving eminent domain powers to pipeline companies nothing more than a \u201cregistration.\u201d In the ruling the court said “No notice is given to affected parties. No hearing is held, no evidence is presented, no investigation is conducted.”<\/p>\n

The conclusion: “Our Constitution demands far more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the state\u2019s oil and gas regulators are meeting to consider changing those rules. But getting there has been a long and windy road, as KUT\u2019s Mose Buchele reports for State Impact Texas.<\/p>\n