I received the offer of a water company out of Dallas. I failed to get the name. I was offered the amount of $200 a rod for a permanent easement laying flat line above ground and eventually buried. This involves Blk56 sections 30 and 32, T 3. I am one of 80 people owning mineral rights. I am 1/7 undivided member. The gentleman offered me $400 for my ROW. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, so I am sitting on the offer. I am also holding a permanent ROW pipeline offer from Epic for $200. I need some input from someone who can assist. I feel as if I’m shooting blind, hoping to hit something. I guess the differences involve PERMANENT and TEMPORARY. Thanking you in advance! Glenda Natriello
First, you need to tell anyone who calls about a ROW or a lease or anything else, that you can only consider a written offer. That way you can be sure about all of the details and there will not be any he said / she said argument later. Email is fine, but it must contain the details. Then you document every conversation with an email back to the agent about your understanding of any changes to the proposal. Do not commit yourself to anything until after every detail has been ironed out.
Second, you cannot evaluate the offer without knowing the number of rods (length) of pipeline and the size (diameter) of the pipeline. Is it 4 or 8 or 12 or 16 inches? Is $200 per rod one-time or renewable? Only agree to a payment for a single line. If they want to add a second line later then that is a new ROW and additional payment. If you are in West Texas, go to the University Lands website and get the Rate and Damage Schedule and look at the rates for off-lease pipelines. Those rates provide for secondary payments every 10 years. Your share would be 1/7 as that is your surface ownership.
Third, in ROW world, the permanent ROW is the width of the ROW over time. The temporary ROW is the additional space for construction as they need to store pipes and have vehicles out there. Your ROW should provide that upon abandonment, the ROW terminates in its entirety. In other words, permanent is just while the water line is in use, not really forever. Often it will specify that termination upon 12 or 24 months of consecutive non-use of line.
There are other things to consider. A good starting point is the Texas A&M pipeline easement negotiation checklist even if your surface is not in Texas. Find at this website -
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