Eminent Domain Comes to the Texas Legislature
“As property owners challenge the company’s use of eminent domain, the project to bring crude from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf sparked litigation all down the line. One of those property owners is Julia Trigg Crawford. She’s a farmer from North Texas who says it was too easy for the company to take her land.
First up, House Bill 2748 from Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa. It calls for a notice, a hearing and an opportunity to appeal before a company is able to take land as a “common carrier.”
Tom “Smitty” Smith is the head of Texas Public Citizen, an environmental group that has opposed pipeline companies. He told StateImpact Texas that Lewis’ bill has all the trappings of a “shell bill,” a bill filed with few details so that lawmakers, stakeholders, agency officials, and lobbyists, can figure out the details during the legislative process.”
Buchele, Mose. State Impact 14 March 2013.