{"id":6199,"date":"2012-02-20T08:30:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T14:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=6199"},"modified":"2012-02-19T13:54:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-19T19:54:15","slug":"the-pipeline-vs-the-farmer-what-happens-next-for-keystone-xl-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/20\/the-pipeline-vs-the-farmer-what-happens-next-for-keystone-xl-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pipeline vs. the Farmer: What Happens Next for Keystone XL in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6202\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Pipeline companies are finding themselves with a new obstacle: defenders of private property rights.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/02\/3780481716_3b97b6a009_z.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6202\" title=\"The Steam Pipeline\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/02\/3780481716_3b97b6a009_z-300x209.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/02\/3780481716_3b97b6a009_z-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/02\/3780481716_3b97b6a009_z-620x433.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/02\/3780481716_3b97b6a009_z-220x153.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/02\/3780481716_3b97b6a009_z.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo by Flickr user Stuck in Customs\/Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pipeline companies are finding themselves with a new obstacle: defenders of private property rights.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There&#8217;s a showdown taking place over a fifty-foot wide swath of farmland in northeast Texas, and the outcome could have a significant effect on the future of the <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/tag\/keystone-xl-pipeline\/\">Keystone XL pipeline<\/a> and how it&#8217;s perceived by the public.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/14\/this-land-was-your-land-now-its-our-land-keystone-xl-and-eminent-domain\/\">we reported last week<\/a>, the company behind the pipeline, <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/17\/defending-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-company-speaks-out\/\">TransCanada<\/a>, has won an eminent domain claim to route the pipeline through the farmland of <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/16\/keystone-xl-company-goes-to-court-against-farmer\/\">Julia Trigg Crawford<\/a>, who decided not to allow the company to construct the pipeline through her land. While Crawford is appealing that eminent domain claim, she has also filed a temprorary restraining order against TransCanada that for the time being bars them from entering her property. Now TransCanada is asking for that restraining order to be dissolved.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, a district judge in Lamar County held a hearing on Crawford&#8217;s restraining order. Both sides had their say in a session that started at nine and didn&#8217;t end until three in the afternoon. &#8220;It was a crazy, crazy wild day,&#8221; Crawford says. The company says Crawford and her attorneys\u00a0&#8220;violated state law by seeking a\u00a0temporary\u00a0restraining order without our knowledge,&#8221; according to a statement by the company.\u00a0The judge will make a ruling on whether or not to dissolve the temprorary restraining order sometime this week.<\/p>\n<p>While much of the opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline has <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/17\/prosecuting-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-enviromentalists-concerns\/\">come from environmental corners<\/a>, the case of the pipeline versus the farmer illustrates a new obstacle for the company: defenders of private property rights. <!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/17\/defending-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-company-speaks-out\/\">Defending the Keystone XL Pipeline: Company Speaks Out<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/17\/prosecuting-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-enviromentalists-concerns\/\">Prosecuting the Keystone XL Pipeline: Enviromentalists\u2019 Concerns<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/16\/keystone-xl-company-goes-to-court-against-farmer\/\">Keystone XL Company Goes to Court Against Farmer<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/14\/this-land-was-your-land-now-its-our-land-keystone-xl-and-eminent-domain\/\">This Land Was Your Land, Now It\u2019s Our Land: Keystone XL and Eminent Domain<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/131643233-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/keystone-xl-pipeline\/\">What is the Keystone XL Pipeline?<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The case of Crawford has been\u00a0trumpeted\u00a0by Tea Partiers, Libertarians and left-leaning environmentalists alike, who challenge TransCanada&#8217;s use of eminent domain to construct the pipeline on private land.<\/p>\n<p>The company says <a href=\"domain\">eminent domain<\/a> is justified because the\u00a0Keystone XL is a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Common_carrier\">common carrier<\/a>&#8221; pipeline.\u00a0While eminent domain is typically used for public projects, in this case the private company\u00a0argued that since the oil passing through the pipeline would ultimately be used by the public. They argue the pipeline is a public \u201ccommon carrier\u201d one and not a private pipeline, even though it\u2019s privately owned and operated.<\/p>\n<p>TransCanada says they use eminent domain only\u00a0&#8220;when landowners refuse to communicate or negotiate with us or leave us with no other way to reach an easement agreement,&#8221; according to a statement from the company. They also <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/02\/17\/defending-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-company-speaks-out\/\">say they&#8217;ve made agreements<\/a> with &#8220;nearly 99 percent of land tracts in Texas&#8221; where they wish to route the pipeline.<\/p>\n<p>Crawford, on the other hand, says her reasons for\u00a0opposing\u00a0the pipeline are personal, not political.\u00a0\u201cOne of my first concerns was, to go the path they had planned, they had to horizontally drill under the creek that I have water rights to,\u201d Crawford told StateImpact Texas. \u201cSo, I didn\u2019t exactly want this sludge being pumped underneath the creek.\u201d Crawford also said that if the pipeline was buried underneath her property it could create a \u201cvegetative dead zone\u201d for her crops, because the temperature of the line can get up to 140 degrees.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m at least safe for a few more days,&#8221; Crawford says. She believes the company intends to start construction as soon as March 1st. TransCanada says that is not their plan, and that there&#8217;s &#8220;no impending construction on this property or any other property, for that matter,&#8221; according to a statement from the company.<\/p>\n<p>As for Crawford&#8217;s appeal of the condemnation of her property under eminent domain, there will be a trial on April 30th in the same court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a showdown taking place over a fifty-foot wide swath of farmland in northeast Texas, and the outcome could have a significant effect on the future of the Keystone XL pipeline and how it&#8217;s perceived by the public. As we reported last week, the company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, has won an eminent domain claim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":6202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[59],"tags":[73,21],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6216,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions\/6216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}