Pipeline Easement Compensation Texas
There are many factors you need to consider when a pipeline company contacts you about installing and operating a pipeline across your property. You will need to negotiate terms with the pipeline company before you grant them an easement or a right of way agreement. Consider the impact the pipeline will have on the value of your land and your access and control over it as you negotiate with the company. Once you grant them an easement, the pipeline company can construct, operate, and maintain the pipeline while they pay you.
Factors For Negotiating Monetary Compensation
You as the landowner are entitled to a compensation that is of the fair land value of the land used to install a pipeline. The pipeline company can either make a payment as an upfront lump sum or negotiate annual installments. Payment is based per foot, per acre, or per rod of the pipeline but you can also set a sum that is not tied to a measurement. But generally, the factors that determine how much monetary compensation you will receive include:
- The county where your property is located
- The amount of land the pipeline company wants to use
- How your property is used in the present or how it could be developed in the future into a particular use
- The economic standing of the company seeking to install a pipeline
- Product being transported by the pipeline and pressure of the pipeline
- The legal terms of the pipeline easement or of the right of way agreement
- How installation of the pipeline will affect the rest of your property
- The skill, experience and competency of your lawyer during the negotiations with the pipeline company
The whole process of determining the rate for a pipeline easement is complicated, mostly because the pipeline company will fight to keep the rate as low as possible. A lawyer with decades of experience negotiating easements can aggressively negotiate on your behalf to help you get the rate you deserve.
Impact A Pipeline Can Have To your Property
You need to negotiate an easement agreement that limits the impact to your property. You can do that in following ways:
- Limit the easement to only one pipeline
- Ensure that you have access to and across the easement
- Retain the authority to determine when, where, and how the company can enter and exit your land
- Set limits on the type of products that flow through the line
- Ensure the right of way agreement has provisions for solving any violations
- The easement agreement should state clearly who has maintenance responsibilities
Seek professional counsel to identify other ways to limit the impact of a pipeline on your property.
Considering the Future Of Your Property
When you are negotiating an easement agreement with a pipeline company, you need to address your rights to surface use of the property. This includes the right to building roadways, erecting structures, creating water features, agriculture and so on. Pay attention to the date the easement will be terminated and seek to understand the terms of transferability of the easement. Ensure there are provisions in the easement agreement those details how your land will be restored including removal of structures erected by the pipeline company.
