Pipeline Companies Don’t Like Having to Pay for Damages Caused to Land

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, pipeline companies are asking the Texas Supreme Court to overturn a ruling they say jeopardizes new projects, escalating the battle over the costs of transporting oil and natural gas produced by the energy boom in South Texas. The industry says its costs are soaring as landowners, bolstered by a recent appellate-court opinion, seek much higher payments for damage to their property values from pipelines and reject what they see as lowball offers from companies. Under Texas law, companies can build pipelines across private property over landowners’ objections, but must pay for use of the land and any damage to the value of the rest of the property. The dispute in the South Texas case could have ramifications in other states where pipelines are proliferating along with new oil and gas fields, some legal experts say.