We received word recently that a new pipeline project will be crossing one of our family properties in Mills county. There is not a pipeline there currently. We do not have experience with negotiating with a pipeline company. I don't want to be a jerk and demand astronomical money from the pipeline company but I also don't want to roll over and agree to sign their first contract/offer.

Do we need an attorney to consult on contract verbiage? If so, who is recommended? I assume this would be oil/gas attorney, not my generic family lawyer.

Is there a resource somewhere where we can read about landowner rights and what to be aware of/concerned about with pipeline projects?

What advice can yall give?

Little more info on the land…

It's a 212 acre property in northern Mills county, nearest community (on a map) is Priddy. We own the land primarily for hunting but we obtained it in a 10-31 exchange after selling rental properties in the metroplex. The land does have a livestock lease with a local guy. He runs sheep, goats, and occasionally cows. There is cultivation and the pipeline will cross the cultivation. No concern with the pipeline opening line of sight from the FM road due to the change in elevation and going across the cultivation for the majority of the property. We will lose some deer hunting brush, it will likely change how we hunt the place, but the change could be for the better. Part of the cultivation is baled triticale right now.

That kinda stinks for location across the pasture, I would most likely engage an attorney for contract language, I'd also try to get them to push it potentially closer to property boundary, they are probably going to be against that because it could create a PI (point of inflection - pipe angle change), but maybe they'll concede.

Talk to other locals about price.

That always sucks but squeeze what you can from them. Ag won't be affected and now you have someone to maintain your new sendero for deer.

Our neighbor was an attorney and successfully navigated a pipeline on their large property that was all wildlife exempt. The managed to negotiate the width down to a tiny strip to keep as much of their wild habitat as possible.

Pipelines are fairly minimalistic in their impact footprint. The main thing is future building pad/sites. Make them hug the perimeter fence and get a perimeter road out of it. Don't let them bisect a small piece of land like that.

Get an attorney that has experience with pipeline easements.

Find out what your neighbors are being offered.

Be sure the agreement has a most-favored-nations clause in it. If the attorney doesn't catch that, fire him or her and get another.

- I've been thru one pipeline condemnation….my final payment was five times their last, best offer.

- I've been thru one office building condemnation….the final payment was significantly more than we had hoped for..

- I'm in the middle of an inverse condemnation and just received a very positive decision from the Texas Supreme Court yesterday.

I would be concerned in your situation that the easements entrance in the middle of your already limited road frontage (relative to the size of the tract)….will significantly diminish your ability to subdivide the property and lower your total value.

PM me your phone number and I'd be happy to give you my insights. I'm not an attorney and have no services to offer.

What they won't tell you and will deny all day long is that the trend now is for " energy corridors". They start with a single pipeline or transmission line and then you end up having multiple energy or water or other pipelines following in the same corridor. We found that out the hard way.
Make all the effort you can to make them find another route. And don't let anybody tell you that can't be done.

Texas is less friendly to the landowner than most other states.

- about 40 other states require reimbursement of your legal and appraisal costs if the final amount is less than the best, final offer.

- a number of other states require payment of 150% of the market value if the land has been in the family for at least 100 years.

- a number of other states require 125% of market value if it is agricultural land being taken.

A&M did a fairly comprehensive report/study on this topic a few years ago.

Have them hug the property line.

If they don't then OP needs to be compensated for the ENTIRE SWATH "north" of the pipeline in the picture. There is a less than zero chance that the pipeline will not allow any vehicular traffic across it except for designated crossings. Which would then "sever" the north part of the picture from most "easy" access.

In our instance a company about two years later wanted to move water to central Texas down the same pathway. Then another power transmission line from wind power followed and a third transmission line company also later. You ( meaning your company) may establish your easement but other entities will then try to utilize that same general path for future growth. Your company would have no control on another easement for another entity going next to yours.
This is happening in many areas and states. …. And the initial easement was only the beginning. We found out later in legal action that in fact plans were in place for that corridor many years before.
You can find these corridors all over Texas and other states now.
You may guarantee to the landowner that nothing else will be in your easement but my point is these initial pathways are then expanded again and again in some instances.

I still contend that an easement compensation should be based on how much it is used. In other words, if you have common carrier status and want to cross my property and use eminent domain to get it, that fine. Then you must pay me $x.xx/mcf of natural gas (or whatever commodity youre transporting), and we're going to renegotiate that fee every few years.

Easements are for the "use" of the land, not perpetual ownership.

BrazosDog02 said:

---

Can't these companies just eventually say "Yeah, well, F--- you, here's your 10 bucks and we're doing it anyway."???

Do they have to negotiate at all? That's always been my worry.

---

Please don't perpetuate these myths.....No they can not.

OP, don't take the first offer. Good news is that other than the one planting/harvest of hay that particular year, you will still have your hay field. Also, ask for crop damages and have documentation.

Bad news is that you are going to lose some of those trees. They will pay damages but the price is going to be pretty much a uniform/standard price. Unless you have a giant/ancient oak in there or something. (Side note: Black Wallnut trees are money....)

As advised above, get a lawer but NOT some firm from Austin that comes to save the day that signs up a bunch of landowners promising higher pay outs. They are going to negotiate for a higher pay out, because they are taking 40%. I'm not making this up.

I can't tell a landowner what to do. But, there are two kinds that I deal with. Ones that listen to me and read between the lines when I lower my voice or raise my eye brows.....and ones that get ran over. Ask about fees etc before you sign with an attorney.

Also, locate a fence contractor now. Make friends with him, tell him whats going on. Don't wait until the project starts to do this. The company has to fix your fence back as good as, or better than it was & you can choose who does the work. The company can't dictate that. They may act like they can, but they can not.

Take everything you hear from the neighbors/facebook etc etc with a grain of salt. I've seen/heard plenty of landowners sell each other out, or lie about how much they got paid.

Lastly, make sure that the title on your property is up to date and in YOUR name. If its you and your wife or in a trust, thats fine. But....on almost every project I get a case were grandpa bought the land after the war, eventually died, then Gen 2 & Gen 3 just kept paying the taxes. I can not write a check to either Gen 2 or Gen 3, because the title isn't up to date. "But I pay the taxes" does not make you the owner. This part should be taught in the 7th grade, I swear.