Mom and dad have 100 acres in Fayette County, Warrenton area. Been approached by a Landman wanting to pay $500 rod no surface damages. They want a 50ft permanent easement with a 60ft temporary work easements. This would take out 100s of oak trees. Anyone have an idea?
Get a lawyer. The Rivers Station between Oldenberg and Warrenton is an example of noisemakers and pollution with little financial gain
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Lawyer experienced with easements/eminent domain will likely double your value. Check out The directory link above.
Is it a gathering pipeline or a transmission pipeline? You can tell them to take a hike if it’s gathering but if it’s transmission it’s subject to eminent domain like a big power line or highway.
Gathering you can put whatever you want in the easement like 25’ permanent or $5k for every oak tree over 8” in diameter. They can accept your terms or not.
Also, another acceptable rate is $1 per inch of pipeline diameter per foot of run. Figure it both ways and see what’s best for you. Again, they can accept it or not. Oh, and make sure it’s only for ONE pipeline. Want to add another in the same easement later on? Pay me again at the time.
And last and most important are the secret words, “no above ground appurtenances”.
But like any business deal, make sure to get an attorney familiar with this kind of thing. All the best.
For some reason my MRF site wasn’t functioning correctly, which isn’t unusual, so I just hit the e-mail reply last night and this is that response. The MRF seems to be working again Good luck Date: May 30, 2019 at 10:22:16 PM CDT
To: German American Subject: Re: [Mineral Rights Forum] [Texas Mineral Rights/Fayette County, TX] Pipeline offers?
Bad news to even think about giving anyone a right of way (ROW) across your property, especially a “permanent” right of way, period. I doubt that these guys have the right of eminent domain to start with, plus $500/rod is not nearly enough money even if there weren’t any oak trees in the ROW. No less than $50/foot and never a permanent ROW, plus extremely high dollar damages for removing even one Oak tree. Remember these trees are our heritage, many of them have been here for more than 100 years or more and they want to take them out at the strike of a pen. I recommend getting a good attorney and either force them to take another route or pay the price for ruining your property. Also, remember that if you do finally sign. make sure that pipeline ROW is not permanent and that there is a provision that requires a new lease if the pipeline isn’t flowing gas for a period of 24 months or more and that they are required to provide you with a flow through inventory so you will know when the 24 month period is reached or past.
Good Luck!
We’ve been approached too by people who want to lease land of ours to put gas pipelines all the way to Fayetteville. *I found this article On internet:
Aspen Midstream, LLC Announces Construction of a Large Diameter Residue Gas Pipeline and Lean and Rich Gas Gathering Systems in Texas’ Austin Chalk Play*
They are looking at the land along Old park road where it dead ends at the lake, all the way back to Fayetteville. Old park road is off 159. We just got contacted.
(“Aspen”) today announced the company is constructing a large diameter residue pipeline and both a lean and a rich gas gathering system in the Austin Chalk play in Texas. Aspen’s Austin Chalk System is located in the Giddings Field. Producers drilling the Giddings Field are developing multiple stacked pay zones, including the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Shale formations. The Aspen Austin Chalk System is strategically located to ensure producer access to premium residue and NGL markets and spans the Giddings Field, including Washington, Fayette and Burleson counties, along with portions of Austin, Brazos, Colorado and Waller counties.
“Aspen is developing a top-tier system, and we look forward to helping the company grow its business in the Austin Chalk.”
The system is supported by a combined total of approximately 150,000 acres of long-term dedications from multiple producers. Aspen is engaged in discussions with other producers about additional dedications. The system is expected to be in service by the third quarter of 2019.
You said they are wanting to lease land to put in a pipeline but I’m thinking you probably mean they want to buy an easement across your land for a pipeline right of way, not lease your land.
For a year or more Aspen Midstream has been building a large gas processing plant in Washington County on Old Mill Creek Road, between Burton and Brenham. They initially made a deal with Geosouthern to transport and process the gas from all their new wells and, like that article mentions, they are working to get gas dedicated to their system by other operators. They have built pipelines all over the western side of Washington County and also extended a residue gas line to the Katy area.
If you aren’t familiar with pipeline easements there are a number of important factors you should learn about and will need to negotiate before you sign anything. If that isn’t something you are familiar with you should have an attorney represent you in those negotiations. Don’t accept at face value anything landmen representing that, or any company, tells you, and don’t assume their first offer is anywhere close to the best deal that is possible, particularly if they don’t have condemnation rights. If they claim they have those rights tell them you need written documentation.
Since you know the general route they have in mind it might be worth contacting adjoining landowners there to see if they have also been approached about an easement. By sharing information, agreeing to negotiate as a group, and possibly sharing attorney costs you can gain more leverage in dealing with the company.
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Thank you and Yes sir you are correct, they want easements to run pipelines through our property. We are familiar with GEO southern, we have contracts with them for mineral rights.
You need a good surface use attorney to help get a good lease (or purchase agreement). You may want to look up the University of Texas surface use agreement just to get a feel for how complicated and comprehensive your lease needs to be.
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