Eminent domain topic of Texas committee hearing
“Property ownership is one of the most sacred rights of all Americans. But in Texas, laws protecting landowners from government-backed, land-seizing powers — better known as eminent domain — need more clarification, a Texas legislative panel was told Monday.
“The burden now falls on the citizens to protect their property,” Julia Triggs Crawford, a landowner in rural East Texas, told the members of the House Land & Resource Management Committee.
“The power of eminent domain is immensely powerful,” said Crawford whose family is one of several in 17 counties waging a legal fight against TransCanada, a Canadian company building the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
Committee chairman Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said at the start of the three-and-a-half-hour hearing that given the public’s interest on eminent domain, he expects it to be a priority when the Texas Legislature is back in session in January.”
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Rangel, Enrique. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal 23 July 2012.