Permian Highway Pipeline Project Moving Forward
The lawsuit against Kinder Morgan for routing through Texas Hill County has been dismissed.
Judge Lora Livingston with the 261st State District Court in Austin dismissed all claims made against the Permian Highway Pipeline, a project worth $2 billion to move 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Permian Basin to the Katy Hub near Houston.
Livingston heard testimony from both sides during a two-day hearing late May. After reviewing the evidence and testimony the judge sided with Kinder Morgan and the Railroad Commission. In a released statement Kinder Morgan President of Natural Gas Pipelines Tom Martin stated the company was pleased with the ruling.
“The court’s finding validates the process established in Texas for the development of natural gas utility projects, as well as the steps we have taken to comply with that process,” Martin said. “We will continue to engage all stakeholders as we work to complete PHP.”
A statement issued by the Texas Real Estate Advocacy and Defense Coalition group that paid the legal fees for the lawsuits: “We continue to believe the Texas constitution does not allow for the delegation of this awesome power to a private company without oversight,” the group said. “This issue should be heard by an appellate court. We are weighing our options for an appeal and planning additional legal actions in other venues to challenge this severely problematic route.”
During the hearing, Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell testified that the pipeline’s proposed route would go through several future subdivisions where developers plan to build as many as 20,000 homes. The city he said, already spent millions of dollars adding water, sewage and electrical services to those sites.
“All of this could have been avoided if Kinder Morgan had to follow the most basic outreach efforts that the City of Kyle and utility companies have to follow,” Mitchell told the Chronicle in May.
Under Texas law pipeline require a 50-foot easement that must be kept clear at all time. Kinder Morgan design included a 600-foot wide corridor.