My parents property is in the path of a new pipeline and they are working on the easement.

I don't know how much info to share here or if that even matters.

I have the proposal paperwork.

They aren't trying to stop it just don't want to get a bad deal.

Thanks

Where is the property located? Find a good local oil and gas attorney.

+1 on the O&G attorney. Also highly suggest talking to an experienced land man/ROW agent. They broker these deals a lot of times and can tell you works for maximizing the amount.

Pay attention to the ROW details. Add access fees if you can where they pay you every time they come on your property. If nothing else, they'll pay more upfront to avoid the ongoing fees.

Which pipeline company? Gas or crude?

if you don't want people to be able to see from one side of the property to the other (no idea if you are brushed/trees or open pasture), then you can ask them to curve it a bit. My buddy did this recently and they had no issue.

also make sure they build you a nice road from your front gate to the pipeline.

I am in this business currently and on a project, so I have to tread lightly here but I will echo most of what
has been posted above. Amost zero chance that you will get a 10 year lease though.

Please please please though, if you choose an attorney, find a real oil and gas attorney. I have seen multiple people make bad attorney choices and, quite fankly, they are going to be getting ripped off. Also, the family friend/brother-in-law/neighbor/guy I know attorney is always a bad idea unless he is a 100% legit O&G attorney.

Even better, find an attorney that has experience writing and reviewing pipeline easements. Some O&G attorneys don't know squat about drafting easements, as there's an art to drafting one correctly. You'd be surprised what you can get in an easement if you play nice. Be a jerk, and well, it may not go well. Some other things to consider, if not included in the draft easement:

1. Ensure that the ditches will be double ditched.
2. Have a provision that the surface will be restored to a condition that is like or better prior to the imposition of the easement.
3. Sometimes there is a clause that they can go through your property to access the easement on someone else's property. If your adjoiners have road access at the easement crossing, try to get this clause removed.
4. Limit access to the bounds of the easement if possible. This may not be possible if everyone around you has had #3 from above removed.

TxLawDawg said:

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Where is the property located? Find a good local oil and gas attorney.

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In Williamson County

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Any suggestions for a good attorney?

Favored nations

In some cases, they can bore the pipeline through instead of digging a ditch and burying it.

I think my cousin can bore a pipeline for up to a mile.

Make sure they don't have future above ground apertanances rights. That prevents them from adding risers or stations later on without your approval. Get heavy duty cattle guards at fence crossings if you want, metal h braces at fences, anything you want them to do that isn't over the top they will be pretty agreeable to. I have seen landowners get ponds dug and ditch dug in other parts of the property just by asking.

How many rods on your property and how hard to route around you? If a reroute would add significant cost then you can be pretty aggressive with them. If you push too hard they will start looking to get around you and you could be SOL.

eric76 said:

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In some cases, they can bore the pipeline through instead of digging a ditch and burying it.

I think my cousin can bore a pipeline for up to a mile.

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They will resist this pretty hard. It can certainly be done but will add significant cost. If it's a large diameter pipe it will require fairly straight ROW and a straight shot leading up to it to string the bore pipe. Very rarely done unless they have no other option.

JAW3336 said:

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My parents property is in the path of a new pipeline and they are working on the easement.

I don't know how much info to share here or if that even matters.

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Jaw,

May I ask about the nature of your parents' property?

Williamson County has been and is being developed at a rampant pace.

If your parents' property is either currently in an area being developed for either commercial or multi-family residential uses, or will be such an area in say the next 4-7 years, I'd be a whole lot more concerned with the terms (and payment) of the easement than if the property is out in the middle of nowhere.

I promise you that underground pipelines can really throw monkey wrenches into development plans if certain things aren't addressed up front.

If you think (or know) that this property has (or foreseeably will have) development potential, I would stress, in no particular order:

1. Does the pipeline follow property boundaries (best case) or does it cut across on a 45 degree angle (terrible)?

2. Will it be at the minimum 3' depth rather than at least 4' (and preferably 5') so that roads, drainage, utility lines etc fewer 'conflicts'?

3. And speaking of other utilities -- spell out that the easement is non-exclusive, and that you need to provide for future crossing underground utilities, as well as crossing roads and drainage ditches.

4. Surface installations in the wrong area can hurt access as well. If they plan to put a valve site right next to the highway your parents' property sits on, and the site takes up 350' of your 600' frontage access, that's a problem.

Of course, remedying these type of things increases the pipeline company's construction costs. On the other hand, think of the denigration in value of the parcel if reasonable development is negatively impacted.

BTW, I agree with what was previously mentioned. I don't think any pipeline company (with ED authority) is going to do a 10-year deal with you.

I'm sorry your parents (and you) are having to deal with this. Yes, pipelines are necessary, but my feeling is that if pipelines were crossing the properties of the folks who are actually plotting the routes and making the construction decisions, things would be much, much different than they are.

I don't fault them for wanting to do the project at the least possible cost -- that is their job, after all. The landowner's job is to let them know they are costing you money by screwing up your property and that adjustments either need to be made or the price needs to go up.

Women say 'diamonds' are forever. Landowners who have pipeline easements know that 'pipelines' are forever.

Good luck.

I doubt this area will see development in my lifetime and definitely won't in their lifetime.

I have advised them to get an attorney.

The area in question is open pasture.

Your Friend said:

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Favored nations

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I can't tell if you're playing your OR schtick over here or not. Pipeline companies don't do most favored nation status.

Be careful being too greedy. We are currently negotiating PL ROW's right now in another area and have two options of where to run the pipeline through. We will go with whichever landowner gives us the best deal up front. We arent telling them we are working with two different routes.

Texas Pipeline Easement Negotiation Checklist from Agrilife
http://texasfarmbureau.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Texas-Pipeline-Easement-Negotiation-Checklist.pdf

Comeby! said:

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Be careful being too greedy. We are currently negotiating PL ROW's right now in another area and have two options of where to run the pipeline through. We will go with whichever landowner gives us the best deal up front. We arent telling them we are working with two different routes.

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I wish the one coming thru my property would go another route. Don't want their pipeline or their money. Not being greedy but the company is offering less than half what has been paid to other landowners in our area on multiple different lines over the past five years. Same size.

Will have to hire an eminent domain attorney to try to get a better deal but we have asked them from the start to please go elsewhere. Definitely do not want it on my land or near my home.

Most people aren't fortunate enough to turn down money. Count your blessings.

Another thing to consider: if there's enough money involved, you can do a 1033 exchange to defer the taxes.

That is my feeling. I would stick the pipeline company for as much as I could. If they go somewhere else it's even a bigger win. I've had two eminent domain cases on my property(s). Won one and lost one. To this day I would gladly give them their money back for my property.

Mas89 said:

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Will have to hire an eminent domain attorney to try to get a better deal

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This part is not true. You should probably have an attorney look at the easement but you don't need them do make a counter offer. In some cases, with landowners that do not have attorneys, I've had to tell the landowner "what the next step" was, which was for them to make a counter offer. That can be, from my position, a difficult thing to make some folks understand if they aren't used to negotiations.

The initial offer that the company gave you was based on one fomula or another. So, do your own based on realistic land values, not what your neighbor says. Then come back to the land agent with counter. As long as its not too crazy, they should be able to work with you.

As a ROW agent/land agent one has to represent their employer or client much the same way as real estate agent has to represent the buyer or seller, but not both. However, I have given the above advise to numerous landowners. Make a real counter based on real numbers.

Some additional question:

If a company wants to put a pipeline parallel to an older nonfunctional pipeline can you insist on them replacing the old one?

If fiber optics are being run through via another company, or does this occur, can you get a percentage of that.

bookmyer said:

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To this day I would gladly give them their money back for my property.

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Amen, Brother Book,

In fact, I would give them their money back X10.

In most cases of ED however, the formula is:

Willing Buyer + Unwilling Seller = suck it up, sucka!

SAWgunner said:

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Mas89 said:

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Will have to hire an eminent domain attorney to try to get a better deal

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This part is not true. You should probably have an attorney look at the easement but you don't need them do make a counter offer. In some cases, with landowners that do not have attorneys, I've had to tell the landowner "what the next step" was, which was for them to make a counter offer. That can be, from my position, a difficult thing to make some folks understand if they aren't used to negotiations.

The initial offer that the company gave you was based on one fomula or another. So, do your own based on realistic land values, not what your neighbor says. Then come back to the land agent with counter. As long as its not too crazy, they should be able to work with you.

As a ROW agent/land agent one has to represent their employer or client much the same way as real estate agent has to represent the buyer or seller, but not both. However, I have given the above advise to numerous landowners. Make a real counter based on real numbers.

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This ain't my first rodeo. Been there, done that. This major company has sent the final offer letters and is not going any higher with the landowners or their attorneys so far. Only time will tell but so far e d attorney appears to be the choice of last resort. Know multiple property owners big and small on this route.

Just wish I had the option to say no and have them go elsewhere. I did not buy and pay for my land to have other people tell me what I can and can't do on it.

Spore Ag said:

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Some additional question:

If a company wants to put a pipeline parallel to an older nonfunctional pipeline can you insist on them replacing the old one?To borrow from the legal world, it depends. If the language of that older easement allows for lines from other users, then the new pipeline will typically try to use that easement. But if they don't have the right to be within that easement, they have to go next to it. Also, just because the pipeline is not functional, it doesn't mean that the easement has been abandoned. You would think that it would, but case law says otherwise.

If fiber optics are being run through via another company, or does this occur, can you get a percentage of that.You will be paid based on the loss of the additional rights, which isn't as much as the first time since they are going within an existing right of way, and many of those rights were previously acquired. It also depends on what the easement says. If the easement allows for the laying of fiber, then the only compensation you're allowed is surface damages.

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Something to keep in mind is that the courts view eminent domain as a tort, in that the damaged party is to be made whole for the loss they have incurred. There's a ton of case law on how you measure those damages and what is compensable and what isn't.

Mas89 said:

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SAWgunner said:

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Mas89 said:

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Will have to hire an eminent domain attorney to try to get a better deal

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This part is not true. You should probably have an attorney look at the easement but you don't need them do make a counter offer. In some cases, with landowners that do not have attorneys, I've had to tell the landowner "what the next step" was, which was for them to make a counter offer. That can be, from my position, a difficult thing to make some folks understand if they aren't used to negotiations.

The initial offer that the company gave you was based on one fomula or another. So, do your own based on realistic land values, not what your neighbor says. Then come back to the land agent with counter. As long as its not too crazy, they should be able to work with you.

As a ROW agent/land agent one has to represent their employer or client much the same way as real estate agent has to represent the buyer or seller, but not both. However, I have given the above advise to numerous landowners. Make a real counter based on real numbers.

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This ain't my first rodeo. Been there, done that. This major company has sent the final offer letters and is not going any higher with the landowners or their attorneys so far. Only time will tell but so far e d attorney appears to be the choice of last resort. Know multiple property owners big and small on this route.

Just wish I had the option to say no and have them go elsewhere. I did not buy and pay for my land to have other people tell me what I can and can't do on it.

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All land in Texas is subject to some form of government control be it taxation, eminent domain, use regulation in the form of zoning, or escheat (the right to reclaim it if you die with no heirs). When you buy land, you buy it subject to those rights retained by the government. I'm sorry if you don't agree with that, but them be the rules.