Julia Trigg Crawford by StateImpact/NPR
by Walter Brasch
Julia Trigg Crawford of Direct, Texas, is the manager
of a 650-acre farm that her grandfather first bought in 1948. The farm produces
mostly corn, wheat, and soy. On its north border is the Red River; to the west
is the Bois d'Arc Creek.
TransCanada is an Alberta-based corporation that is building
the controversial Keystone Pipeline that will carry bitumen--thicker, more
corrosive and toxic, than crude oil--through 36-inch diameter pipes from the Alberta
tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast, mostly to be exported. The $2.3
billion southern segment, about 485 miles from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf
Coast is nearly complete. With the exception of a 300-mile extension between
Cushing and Steele City, Neb., the rest of the $7 billion 1,959 mile pipeline
is being held up until President Obama either succumbs to corporate and
business pressures or blocks the construction because of environmental and
health concerns.
When TransCanada first approached Crawford's father in
2008, and offered to pay about $7,000 for easement rights, he refused, telling
the company, "We don't want you here." He said the corporation could reroute
the line, just as other pipeline companies in oil-rich Texas had done for
decades. TransCanada increased the offer in the following years, but the family
still refused. In August 2012, with Dick Crawford's daughter, Julia Trigg
Crawford now managing the farm, TransCanada offered $21,626 for an easement--and
a threat. "We were given three days to accept their offer," she says, "and if
we didn't, they would condemn the land and seize it anyway." She still refused.
And so, TransCanada, a foreign corporation exercised
the right of eminent domain to seize two acres of the farm so it could build a
pipeline.
Governments may seize private property if that
property must be taken for public use and the owner is given fair compensation.
Although the exercise of eminent domain to seize land for the public good is
commonly believed to be restricted to the government, federal
law permits natural gas companies to use it. To
get that "right," all TransCanada had to do was fill out a one-page form
and check a box that the corporation to declare itself to be a "common
carrier." The Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas in Texas, merely
processes the paper, rather than investigates the claim; it has admitted it has
never denied "common carrier" status. In the contorted logic that is often spun
by corporations, TransCanada then declared itself to be a common carrier
because the Railroad Commission said it was, even though the Commission's
jurisdiction applies only to intrastate, not interstate, carriers.
On Aug. 21, 2012, the day before Judge Bill Harris of
Lamar County rendered his decision on Crawford's complaint, the sheriff, with
the judge's signature, issued a writ of possession giving TransCanada the right
to seize the land. The next day, Harris issued a 15-word decision, transmitted
by his iPhone, that upheld TransCanada's rights. In Texas, as in most states,
the landowner can only challenge the settlement not the action.
Crawford's refusal to sell is based upon a mixture of
reasons. The Crawford Farm is home to one of the
most recognized Caddo Nation Indian burial sites in Texas, and the 30 acre
pasture that TransCanada wants to trench represents the southern most boundary
of this archeological site. Both the Texas Historical Commission and
TransCanada's archeological firm concur that
the vast majority of this 30 acres pasture in question qualifies for the National Registry of Historic
Places. An archeological dig undertaken after TransCanada showed up to seize
the land recovered 145 artifacts in just a 1,200 foot by 20 foot section, and three
feet deep. But the executive director of the Texas Historical Commission recently
sent a letter stating that no new artifacts had been found in the slice of land
TransCanada planned to build.
Another reason Crawford refused to be bought out was
that she didn't want TransCanada to drill under the Bois d'Arc Creek "where we
have state-given water rights." That creek irrigates about 400 acres of her
land. "Any leak, she says, "would contaminate our equipment, and then our crops
in minutes." It isn't unreasonable to expect there will be an incident that
could pollute the water, air, and soil for several miles.
During the past decade, there were 6,367
pipeline incidents, resulting in 154 deaths, 540 injuries, and more than 56 injuries,
and $4.7 billion in property damage, according
to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. A report released
a year ago by Cornell University's Global Labor Institute concludes that economic damage caused by
potential spills from the Keystone pipeline could outweigh the benefits of jobs
created by the project. In the past three years, there have already been
14
spills on the operational parts of the Keystone Pipeline.
Crawford and her attorney, Wendi Hammond, have challenged
TransCanada's right to seize public property, arguing not only is TransCanada,
which had net earnings of $1.3 billion last year, a foreign corporation, but it
also doesn't qualify as a "common carrier" since the benefit is primarily to
itself. However, the Texas Court of Appeals may not rule until after the
pipeline is laid down and covered. And even if it does rule for Crawford,
TransCanada is likely to appeal. "They have far more lawyers and funds than we
have," says Crawford, who held a music festival last month to help raise funds.
Additional donations have come from around the world, many from those who
aren't immediately affected by oil and gas exploration, transportation, and
processing, but who understand the need to fight a battle that could, at some
time, affect them.
"The company basically goes to court, files
condemnation petitions, says, "We are common carrier, have the power of eminent
domain, we are taking this property.' And that's all there is to it," says
Debra Medina, of WeTexans, a grassroots organization opposed to the seizure of
private land by private companies.
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