Eminent Domain
Public Meetings on Eminent Domain Projects a Good Start to Reform
Contributed by Gordon Sauer, director, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association
There is an information vacuum when it comes to private companies using eminent do- main in Texas.
Even though eminent domain is a govern- mental power that is supposed to be used only for the public good, private entities who use eminent domain have very few obligations to operate in the kind of transparent manner that citizens have come to expect from public proj- ects.
Transmission line companies must at
least present a proposed route to the Public Utility Commission, which meets in Austin and allows public input. Even then, the meet- ing only pertains to routing, and if property owners want to participate, they must abandon their day jobs to travel to Austin from every corner of Texas. Common carrier pipeline companies have no such requirement. In fact, they are not re- quired to have a single public discussion of any kind about a current or proposed pipeline proj- ect. Aside from a few short documents required by the Texas Railroad Commission, virtually no information is available to the public unless the company voluntarily discloses it. Some are better than others, but most keep a tight hold on that information. After all, an uninformed, isolated property owner is usually easier to hoodwink than one who knows the game. Would it not be sensible to require pub- lic meetings in the actual communities where pipeline and transmission line companies in- tend to condemn property? Is it too much to ask that these private companies who utilize a public process for the public good do so in a public forum?
In virtually every other area of public
policy, there is a mechanism for the public to speak out and ask questions. City council meetings, public hearings, county commis- sioner’s courts and other similar public forums allow for public input on projects proposed by state, county and municipal entities. Even more importantly, those projects are
accountable to state and local elected officials. Through exercising their right to vote and oth- er government accountability tools, such as the Texas Public Information Act, citizens can obtain information and hold responsible those who oversee the projects.
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Gordon Sauer
same can- not be said for private pipeline
and transmission line companies who use the threat of eminent domain to obtain property, often for prices far below what it would pay without the eminent domain subsidy. The ex- ecutives who run these companies are not ac- countable to the citizens of Texas, only to their investors, making an open and transparent pro- cess even more vital to ensure it is not abused for the betterment of their bottom line. Last October in Gillespie County, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Gillespie County Farm Bureau hosted a property owner meeting. We provided an opportunity for landowners to learn how the proposed Kinder Morgan Permian Highway Pipeline may impact them and their property. More than 300 landowners and interested individuals attended. Clearly, landowners want the opportunity to be informed and to ask ques- tions about how their land will be affected. This transparency is one of the three components in eminent domain reform we are working for in the 86th session of the Texas Legislature — transparency, accountability, and fairness.
The session started Jan. 8, so we have many weeks of work ahead of us. However, even before the session began, we heard con- tentious rumbling from our detractors who would prefer that common carrier pipeline projects be kept on a “need-to-know” basis and not be open to the light of public scrutiny. They also allege that we will hamper the development of energy infrastructure in Texas. As a member of the TSCRA board of
directors and the co-chair of the TSCRA Em- inent Domain Working Group, I can tell you that TSCRA does not seek to hamper infra- structure development. We, too, rely on this infrastructure to car-
SouthWest Horse Trader March 2019
ry electricity to our homes and provide fuel for our vehicles. There is also little doubt that pipelines are a safer and more efficient alter- native to the trucks and the road traffic they reduce. We simply want to see property owners treated as respected and necessary partners in the work of providing energy to our neighbors and not as problems to be brushed aside. Af- ter all, without private property owners, Texas would not have an energy industry. Our efforts to introduce more transparen- cy into the eminent domain process are moving full steam ahead along with our other eminent domain reforms to address fairness and ac- countability.
If you have not already, be sure to visit
www.TexansforPropertyRights.com to learn more and sign up for updates. Texas is growing, and our state needs thoughtful planning for infrastructure. We do not want to stand in the way of good growth, but that growth should not require trampling on our private property rights, and transparen- cy is not too much to ask. w
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