Eminent domain, oil pipeline bill dies in Texas House

[white cloud]

Darby said areas of Texas are hurting because their ability to get their natural resources to market is cramped. A pipeline can carry oil equivalent to 1,600 truckloads a day, he said, and pipelines have the benefit of increasing the government’s tax revenue base. “This is a well-meaning bill ... to bring clarity to the process,” he said.

Some people will not be happy with enabling a private company taking land through eminent domain, Darby said, and people have legitimate concerns about respecting private land.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association opposes the bill, believing that it doesn’t give affected landowners time to react and take action if they oppose the path of the pipeline.

Among the concerns of the association are that the bill does not require that notices be mailed to affected landowners. The bill instead would require two consecutive weeks of publication of notice online and in a newspaper. For rural property owners who may only get a weekly newspaper, this poses a problem, association spokeswoman Carmen Fenton said.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2013/may/03/eminent-domain-oil-pipeline-bill-dies-in-texas/

[Gman]

1. Who in Hell would sponsor such a bill?

Frankly, I'm surprised it died. I have been expecting much worse from the leggy this session than what they've done so far.

[mbperrin]

2. Who? Paid lackeys who like the taste of their masters' nether parts and excretory canal.

Individual tastes are fine, but not when it involves corporate powers just taking land from citizens. That's when it becomes a perversion, demanding all of us share in it.

[Ilsa]

3. This bill is an obscenity.

Someone needs to scare the pants off these legislators and send letters explaining how a small, unheard-of corporation is going to take their land. Let them feel that threat.

[sonias]

4. "would require two consecutive weeks of publication of notice online and in a newspaper"

Who the hell reads newspapers these days? The bill does not require that notices be mailed to affected landowners. WTF!

Seriously mess up.