Peak Oil

Eagle Ford Pipelines Proliferate Scarring The Land

By far, the most common complaint I am hearing like a mantra from landowners is their concern about the heavy handed and unfair manner in which their Eagle Ford land is being confiscated for pipelines under the false flag and the guise of eminent domain. Eminent domain is a thin transparent disguise purporting public good to hide the virtual theft of private property. Pipelines exact a onerous and heavy burden on the land by reducing the actual overall value of a farm or ranch real estate value by as much half. In extreme cases it can reduce the value of property by more than half. The area near the pipeline cannot be built upon. In some cases, where pipelines run through the middle of a property, an entire ranch may be virtually reduced to nothing more than a stark reminder of the Houston Ship Channel. Those living near pipelines often suffer from PTSD like soldiers returning from war, with nervous and stress disorders from fears that a catastrophic leak may contaminate their land, or worse, a horrific fireball explosion. The original pipeline ROW is often the proverbial foot in the door that allows for additional pipelines and other utilities to be installed at later dates, usually into perpetuity. Some Eagle Ford landowners currently suffer from very wide main pipeline corridors running through their property containing as many as 6 or more large diameter pipelines in a single right-of-way. As the population grows by leaps and bounds as anticipated and more electric power has to be generated to meet the need, new high voltage main transmission power lines will be placed in these existing pipeline ROWs creating a visual blight on the land. There is a strong possibility that today's pipeline ROWs will in the future become the equivalent of the ill fated Trans Texas Corridor for every public utility imaginable. Even with the new-found riches of Eagle Ford oil and gas production, some landowners are finding that building a nice house in a bad neighborhood might not make sense today. Many landowners have already lost the beauty of their rural natural habitat to pipelines forever. Today they live and are required to adjust to having the perpetual ingress and egress intrusion of strangers on their land. It's a poor bargain no matter the price that is paid.

If you have a pipeline horror story I want to hear it. Please send me an email at libertadormg@gmail.com 

A few pictures taken of pipeline activity around the Hochheim area on Saturday 2/11/2012