Fellas,

I would appreciate a little of your sage wisdom.

My dad and I own about 20 acres of raw land off a major highway in a mid-sized metro area here in Texas that we feel within 7-10 years will have significant commercial development potential.

There is, however, toward the rear of this property, an operating refined petroleum products pipe line, built in the mid-'40s, under an easement granted by a long-time-gone landowner in exchange for the princely sum of about $250.00. We bought the land with full knowledge of that. A deal is a deal. Plus, petroleum is good. I get that. No problem with pipelines or pipeline companies.

The easement grants "the right to lay, operate and maintain a pipe line" and "grantee agrees to bury such pipe lines so that they will not interfere with the cultivation of the land".

Anyway, we've been approached by the pipeline company about putting a valve site on this property.

So, my questions are:

1. Can 'eminent domain' be used in this instance to force me to accept?

2. Is there any 'standard' size for one of these sites? (i.e. - How many square feet are we talking about?)

3. How negotiable is the exact location of these sites? The line goes through a small triangular-shaped 'throw-away' piece on the other side of an abandoned railroad easement (now a city street) that I wouldn't mind letting go, but it isn't all that big.

and,

4. How do you value something like this? With all the rural land covered by the pipe line, I would think they could find cheaper property than mine is.


Thanks. I know several of you here have shared your input on subjects like this in the past, either from the perspective of the impacted landowner or from the pipeline's side.

The size of the site will depend on the size of the line and if the valve is manual or if it is electrically operated and if there are any sensors on the line that may require a building for communication gear and a PLC.

Some of the fully instrumented lines with electric valves I have seen require a roughly 100' by 100' site.

Most liquid lines can use eminent domain in Texas. My understanding is that nearly all liquid lines in Texas are "common carrier"

You need to speak with an attorney well versed in pipelines, pronto.

This can and should be used to further refine and restrict the original easement (if it is unsurveyed, etc.) to allow unfettered development of the remainder of the property.

Great advice. Thanks.

Yeah, the tracts are currently burdened by a 'blanket' easement that also grants a second line, although with all the development in the area since the line was built (1946), if they ever do build that second line, they'll have their hands full dealing with all the existing encroachments, unless they figure out some way to vertically stack 'em. :-)

Do you think as part of the negotiations they will agree to define the easements to a width of 35', or is 50' the minimum? I've seen surveys of developed properties on the very same line and both figures came up.

Thanks also to the guys here for the info on valve sites and common carrier/eminent domain. No doubt that I'll have to play ball with these boys.

TexAgs is gold.

It's possible the line is going through a class location change which would change how far apart the mainline valves need to be. If that is the case they might be able to locate it a half mile in either direction and get off your land. In my experience with pipelines we only use ED as a last resort because it's not worth the time and headache that it takes. You should talk to a lawyer that is well versed in ROW issues for sure.

Liquids line, no class location. 100 x 100 would be a good size tie-in with measurement. They may want that to bring in additional lines. If just a valve setting probably 50 x whatever the row width is. ROW width for your easement is based on the original document. 30' or 50' could both be standard in this case. They may have above ground appurtenance agreement already and can add a valve site without your permission. They would need additional workspace around the site so make sure you get paid for those damages. Definitely talk to a lawyer and use this to firm up easement document.

I'm in the midstream valve business and would echo what CrossBow99 said. Make sure you take into account overall height, too.

If it is a 600 class line, for example, some 12" expanding gate valves are almost 90" tall before an actuator is even mounted. I've seen 36" valves go almost 15 feet high with controls and accessories.

Well, I'll know more next week when I meet with the reps, but this appears to be bigger than just a valve site on the existing ROW.

Apparently, it's part of a joint venture project to connect two operators' refined products liquid lines, and my land happens to be in the bullseye area for property requiring the least amount of new connecting line to be built.

Unfortunately for me and my plans, that bullseye requires new ROW in order to build a direction change and a U-turn, and, according to the preliminary sketch I saw, that will take out almost all of my 250' ingress/egress side street frontage for a 20-acre contiguous tract.

Other than having competent legal representation, are there any technical items that I should insist on in order to maintain a decent amount of side street access?

I've looked at some of the encroachment agreements others have had to execute just to build driveways and parking areas over the same line, and the pipeline company really has stringent requirements, which is understandable, since they don't need some rookie with a backhoe taking out their line, or a heavy truck collapsing the road base.

I'd just like to nail down that kind of mechanical stuff now so I don't have to deal with it in the future. Advice is requested and appreciated. Thanks.