Pipeline carrier bill dies quietly

“If the dueling narratives in the run-up to the deadline for the bill to clear the Senate are any indication, those on each side will hone in on the issue when it comes time to file the legislation next session: the use of eminent domain to construct pipelines that are not necessarily open for public use.

That’s a problem, said Bruce Monroe, president of a Texas company that owns mineral rights in Mississippi and the common carrier bill’s most visible supporter.

Monroe and his company, Denkmann Interests, have been unable to come to terms with Denbury Resources to ship carbon dioxide to smaller oil fields in east Mississippi. Monroe said that’s leaving 250 million barrels of oil trapped underground and taking $100 million in tax revenue for the state off the table. That oil and that money would rise to the standard of public use that eminent domain requires of projects built using the law, Monroe said.”

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Chandler, Clay. Clarion Ledger 15 February 2014.