Are you affected by the Kinder Morgan Tejas Lake Creek Lateral Project in Montgomery County? Landowner Condemnation Rights Attorney Philip Hundl describes the project in this video.
Protect your rights as a landowner by talking with an attorney with years of experience helping landowners involved in condemnation and eminent domain. Call or text 800-266-4870 for an appointment. Our appointments can be in-person, online, or by phone.
Summary of the Kinder Morgan Tejas Lake Creek Lateral Pipeline Project Video
Hi, I’m Philip Hundl. My practice area focuses on eminent domain and condemnation proceedings. I represent landowners in all kinds of condemnation proceedings including high-voltage transmission lines, natural gas or oil pipelines, roads, and canals.
Today, I wanted to talk about a new project that I’ve become aware of. It’s the Kinder Morgan Lake Creek Lateral Project.
Description of the Lake Creek Lateral Project
Oftentimes, these projects that are referred to as lateral projects are a short line off of the main trunk line or a gas processing facility. So, this is a smaller line. We’ve talked about 42-inch lines and 36-inch lines — this appears to be a 12-inch line that Kinder Morgan’s running.
Kinder Morgan has a lot of different entities. This is a Kinder Morgan Tejas Pipeline, LLC that is the entity obtaining the easements in this case.
They’re seeking a 50-foot wide permanent easement, although it varies from time to time. Sometimes they will narrow that to 30 feet depending on the different attributes of the property. But in this case, it looks like it’s going to be a 50-foot permanent easement that they’re seeking.
The temporary workspace or construction workspace varies. For the Lake Creek Lateral project, it looks like it’s anywhere from 50 feet to 75 feet wide — once again, varying in the amount of temporary workspace. There will be some additional temporary workspace areas if there are turns in the pipe. Since the Lake Creek Lateral pipeline is a 12-inch line, it has the ability to turn and bend so you’ll see more of these additional temporary workspaces at those bends.
This project is located in Montgomery County. The parts that I’m familiar with are north of FM 1488 and in that Highway 149 area. As you know, there’s a lot of growth out there. There are also national forest and state forest areas. Most of it is national forest land. So to find those pipeline corridors or areas in which to get pipelines through will be a challenge. These pipeline companies want to find vacant land or rural land that hasn’t been developed for their pipeline permanent easement.
Be Prepared if You’re a Landowner Affected by the Project
So, the Kinder Morgan Tejas Lake Creek Lateral Pipeline is something to be familiar with if you’re a landowner in Montgomery County. If you’ve been contacted by right-of-way agents representing Kinder Morgan, please understand your rights. You will get what’s called a Landowner’s Bill of Rights.
I oftentimes get the sense from the right-of-way agents and the pipeline companies that they like to turn the Landowner’s Bill of Rights around and talk about all of their rights and what they can do. They will emphasize that you only have so much time in which to respond and similar landowner constraints. The Landowner’s Bill of Rights originally was designed to inform the landowners of their rights in the condemnation process.
There’s been some eminent domain reform recently, but I don’t think it’s made a huge difference benefiting the landowner. I think it’s maybe a half step in the right direction.
So just as I’ve suggested in these videos, if you’re a landowner facing condemnation, please contact an attorney who handles condemnation proceedings. Your attorney can help you understand your rights to better negotiate with the pipeline company.
Good luck with this Kinder Morgan Lake Creek Lateral Project in Montgomery County.
Get the Legal Help You Need to Protect Your Rights
You should protect your rights by working with an attorney who is experienced in condemnation and eminent domain cases working for landowners. The right of way agent works on behalf of the pipeline company. The more you understand about your rights and the condemnation process in Texas, the better prepared you’ll be to make good decisions in negotiating with the pipeline company.
Call or text 800-266-4870 for an appointment with Attorney Philip Hundl. We have offices in Wharton County, Matagorda County, and Fort Bend County and condemnation clients all over Texas. Appointments can be in-person, online, or by phone.
We also offer a no-obligation case evaluation. Click this link to complete and send us information about your situation.
Call 800-266-4870 or text 979-320-9320 for an appointment. We can also arrange for online and telephone appointments all over Texas.