80-Year Old Collin County, Texas Man Takes on $125 Billion Oil Pipeline Company
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) July 15, 2013 -- On July 15, 2013, 80-year old Freddy Davenport filed pleadings in Collin County Court at Law No. 2 in Collin County, Texas, against Seaway Crude Pipeline Company in order to challenge Seaway’s claim that it has the right to take his land using the "T-4 permit" Seaway obtained from the Railroad Commission of Texas to put in an oil pipeline to transport Canadian oil sands to the Texas Gulf Coast. The case is Cause No. 002-335-2013, Seaway Crude Pipeline Company v. Freddy Davenport, filed in County Court at Law No. 2, Collin County TX. In the lawsuit papers, Davenport alleges that Seaway Crude Pipeline Company is a $125 Billion conglomerate consisting of 50% owner Enterprise Products Partners, LP and 50% owner Enbridge, Inc. and is using the eminent domain process in Texas illegally.
Davenport alleges Seaway is committing fraud on unsophisticated landowners by representing to them the T-4 permit allows Seaway to take their land. The allegation is based on the August 2011 Texas Supreme Court opinion in TEXAS RICE LAND PARTNERS v. DENBURY GREEN, Case No. 090901 (Tex. 8-26-2011) holding that a T-4 permit alone does not vest eminent domain power in any private company. As a result, Davenport alleges all easements Seaway obtained in Texas since August 2011 are void or voidable at the option of the landowners. Davenport further alleges that the Canadian oil sands Seaway intends to pump through the pipeline are not permitted under any state or federal regulation because the substance is actually a mix of bitumen, benzene, and other carcinogens that do not fit any definition of “crude oil” in state or federal regulations. If correct, the entire pipeline project that Seaway has bet over $1 Billion on may be halted. Davenport is seeking an injunction to stop construction of a new pipeline segment as well as stop the “re-purposing” of a 37-year old segment of pipeline to transport the oil sands. Davenport alleges the re-purposing of the old pipeline segment is contrary to the pipeline design and existing easements and places the drinking water supply to Dallas-Fort Worth and East Texas in jeopardy.
"Landowners still have rights in Texas,” says Davenport. “And, we’ll prove it.”
James Girards, Girards Law Firm, http://www.girardslaw.com, +1 214-346-9529, [email protected]
Share this article