Red Oak Pipeline begin Surveys and deals near Burton

Plains All American sent me a map with proposed <36” single crude pipeline along my 2,600’ NW property line. Any idea how much $$ per foot or $$$$

per rod we should push for???

Do the red dashed lines represent the boundaries of your property and the white dashed line show the proposed pipeline route? If that’s right the first thing I would be trying to do is get the line moved adjacent to my property line and further from the house.

Maybe somebody else can give you an idea on $ per rod. If this is a common carrier transmission line I’m assuming they have condemnation rights but I’d ask them to document that to you. If you haven’t been through this before there are a number of other things you’ll want to push for (assuming you can’t avoid having the line there)…restrict it to only one pipeline, restrict the use to only crude oil if that’s what they say it will carry, etc. Probably best to have an attorney advice you on it.

Have you received any information lately on their proposed route?

I ask because although the initial routing appeared to go through Washington county (Wichita Falls to Sealy) , now some ROW agents are looking at Fayette instead.

From reading news reports, I’d say it looks like Red Oak may be building their tank farm in Washington County, and then branching through Fayette to get to Corpus.

But, I haven’t been told anything, nor seen the whole route, so take that for what it’s worth.

They had stated they were going to Sealy first, and then to Corpus, but I know the closer you get to Houston, the higher the property values get. They know that too.

OTOH, Fayette land might not be quite as expensive as Washington County land, but some of the prettier places are getting close.

I do hope Red Oak is sincere when they speak about their concern for the landowners. I guess we’ll see, and try to make the best of a bad situation.

Update concerning the routing map for the Red Oak Pipeline:

I guess their initial plan to go first to Sealy before branching to Corpus was scrapped after all.

I’m not sure just how far along they are in their landowner negotiations. Initial Offers have gone out, but I haven’t heard whether any Special Commissioners Hearings have been scheduled (when negotiations ‘fail’) for any of the many counties in which they are acquiring easements.

So far, Red Oak seems to be handling the PR side of things well.

If you’ve been keeping up with the mess that Kinder Morgan has found themselves in Hayes and a couple of the other hill country counties, I think that’s smart.

If you’re more attentive to landowner needs and pay them good money for what amounts to a forced, unwanted, perpetual taking, you’ll find things might go a bit more smoothly.

For example, some of those Kinder Morgan $20K initial offers were upped by the Special Commissioners to a couple of million bucks. Of course, Kinder Morgan is going to court to have those reduced, but that doesn’t mean they’ll prevail.

And, with that kind of money on the table, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the PI guys start looking at condemnation law for a sideline. :wink:

Remember, all the attorneys say to negotiate terms first, then talk about money. Easement dollars will probably never make a landowner glad the easement is on his property, but if you can limit the current and future damage to your property then by all means do it.

I’ve got some property with pipeline easements signed in the 1940’s where the landowner got all of $29.50 (total), and they are a giant PIA today. I’m glad times appear to be changing.

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As most now know, the Red Oak Pipeline project has been officially ‘deferred’, although they were careful to say that it wasn’t cancelled.

I imagine that the numbers will have to be right before they decide to go back to it. They have, though, done a significant amount of survey and environmental work already, and I’ve noticed that they have filed some easements in several counties where the landowners agreed quickly to terms and pricing.

The route and ‘split’ point have changed over the months, and I still don’t know if they were happy with everything (route-wise) at the time they decided to defer the project.

I guess when you plan to spend $4.5 Billion on a pipeline project, you want to get things right the first time. But, as long as KSA keeps flooding the world with cheap crude, I imagine Phillips 66 and Plains will keep the project on the shelf.