The Whitewater Pipeline Project has been announced, affecting landowners in Matagorda County and Brazoria County as well as other counties across Texas. Landowner Condemnation Rights Attorney Philip Hundl describes the project in this video. He also talks about what landowners should not do before consulting with an attorney. Call or text 800-266-4870 for an appointment with Mr. Hundl. Appointments can be by phone, in person or online.
Talk with an Experienced Lawyer Before You Sign Anything
Call or text 800-266-4870 to set an appointment with Mr. Hundl. Appointments can be by phone, in person or online. Click the button below for a no-obligation case evaluation.
Mr. Hundl references the Texas Railroad Commission permit in the video. Click the image to download the permit.
Summary of the WhiteWater Pipeline Project Video
Phillip Hundl was excellent to work with. We feel that he was very fair and very knowledgeable. We felt he treated us with respect and helped us the best way possible. Will definitely continue to use him for all of our needs.
Jason H.
GatherUp.com ReviewHi, I’m Philip Hundl. I’m an attorney representing landowners facing condemnation or eminent domain proceedings brought against them by pipeline companies, power line companies and others. These can be private entities or governmental entities. The entities use the power of eminent domain to take your property, be it a fee simple interest in your property or an easement. They may want a portion of their property or the whole property for a pipeline or a power line or some other purpose.
So today I’d like to talk to everyone about a new pipeline — the WhiteWater Pipeline project. You may have already been contacted by a right-of-way agent who wants to get permission to enter your property to do some surveying.
The full name of this project is the WhiteWater Midstream project. It’s a joint venture between several different companies. The companies involved with this joint venture are West Texas Gas, Inc, MPLX Limited Partnership, and also EPIC Y-Grade Pipeline LP, and they’re out of San Antonio. The name you will most likely see if you’re contacted by a right-of-way agent would be WhiteWater or EPIC.
Matagorda County and Brazoria County are the counties that are going to be affected by this segment of this pipeline project. The entity that’s doing the preliminary field work and that will be in charge of the operating of the pipeline will be EPIC Y-Grade.
We have a copy of the Railroad Commission permit that was issued to them August 25th 2020. The Railroad Commission permit number on this is O9817.
Now 2020 has been an extremely unusual year for infrastructure projects like pipelines and power lines. Many have been either canceled or put on hold until 2021 or 2022. With EPIC beginning to start this project it appears in 2020, it’s a good sign of economic activity.
If you’re a landowner affected by this, it can be bad news, not good news. Let me talk to you about some of the things that you as a landowner need to be aware of.
What You Need to Know as a Landowner Affected by the WhiteWater Pipeline
There is a tie-in of this project in Markham Texas. As many of you all know, a lot of different pipelines converge in the Markham, Clemville area. This pipeline will run north of Bay City. So it will run from Clemville, north of Markham, and north of Bay City. Then it will drop down near Old Ocean, east of Van Vleck, cross over US Highway 35, and get to Sweeny.
As many of you also know if you live in the Brazoria County area, Sweeny has lots of refineries. At least this segment of the pipeline will be transporting to a natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation hub or unit in Sweeny, Texas.
Sometimes the pipeline companies will do the right-of-way acquisition in-house, but most of the time, they’ll hire right-of-way acquisition companies. There are lots of different companies out there. There’s a right-of-way acquisition company called Summit, and there’s one called Norfleet. This particular project will be handled by Norfleet.
So if you’re contacted by someone from Norfleet, the person is a right-of-way acquisition agent. They’re going to be asking you to sign an easement agreement. Unfortunately, we’ve had situations where landowners have agreed to and signed those initial easement agreements that are extremely favorable for pipeline companies. The landowners signed without contacting an attorney who understands and has experience with eminent domain and condemnation law.
Provide Your Attorney with any Documents and Project Information You Receive from the Right of Way Agent
And so it’s extremely important that if you’re contacted by a right-of-way agent, you should contact an attorney who handles landowner representation and condemnation cases. Talk to the attorney about the paperwork that you’re being handed by the right of way agent and describe what you’ve learned about the project planned for your property.
What do I mean by that? The attorney will want to know is exactly what the pipeline company wants to do on your property. Do they just want to put a pipeline under the ground on your property? Are they going to create an open trench on your property to install the pipe? Are they going to bore under your property completely and not trench your property? Do they plan to have temporary or permanent access roads on your property?
There are a whole host of things that a pipeline company or a pipeline project may or may not want to do on your property. So it’s extremely important for your attorney to know exactly what you’ve been told they want to do on your property.
Sometimes in the early stages of these projects, they don’t know what they want to do on your property, but they just want to enter your property to survey. The way we handle that is to understand what that temporary access should look like. You want to allow the pipeline company to complete its surveys, or you may not want to provide them access at all without permission.
If that’s the case, then that may be a situation where the pipeline company may resort to filing lawsuits to get temporary access to do their surveying. In any legal proceeding involving a court, you will absolutely want an attorney to assist you. If you absolutely do not want the surveyors on your property, then you’re going to need to take action to defend your position.
I’ll have more information about this WhiteWater project in the near future. If you’re a landowner being affected by this project or any other project similar to this, then I always recommend that you contact an attorney who understands eminent domain and condemnation cases. Your attorney can advise you of your rights and the pipeline company’s obligations to you. Good luck.
Let Us Help You Through the WhiteWater Pipeline Condemnation Process
Mr. Hundl offers no-obligation case evaluations to landowners affected by condemnation projects. Just click the button below and complete the form, and he’ll respond in a few days. If you have a question or would like to make an appointment online, you can complete our contact form. You can also call or text 800-266-4870 for an appointment. Appointments can be online, in-person or by phone.
We also have offices in Wharton, Bay City, Richmond and Fulshear. Call or text 800-266-4870 for appointments at any of our offices. We can also arrange for online and telephone appointments all over Texas.