On Tuesday, the 6th Appellate Court ruled against the Crawford family in their condemnation case against TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. Despite the ruling, the family has decided to move their appeal up to the Texas Supreme Court.
NEWS RELEASE: August 27, 2013
Contact:
Wendi Hammond, Attorney, 972.746.8540
Appellate Court Decision Rules on Crawford Condemnation on Keystone XL Pipeline
Family Vows to Move Case Up to Texas Supreme Court
Paris, Texas – On Tuesday, the 6th Appellate Court ruled against the Crawford family in their condemnation case against TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. Despite the ruling, the family has decided to move their appeal up to the Texas Supreme Court.
“We certainly disagree with the Appellate Court’s ruling, and we fully intend to appeal this decision to the Texas Supreme Court,” commented Wendi Hammond, attorney for the Crawford family farm partnership. “At this time, I cannot comment as to the exact points for appeal; however, I expect it will certainly include a request for further scrutiny of the Texas law to determine whether TransCanada actually qualifies as a common carrier.”
“As shown by the Denbury case, the Texas Supreme Court has demonstrated great courage and willingness to overturn lower courts’ decisions to protect Texas citizens from abuse of eminent domain laws by private corporations,” commented Julia Trigg Crawford. “We will continue our fight because the Keystone XL pipeline is all risk and no reward for my family and those Texans like us.”
“We have always seen our appellate case as a stepping stone to a higher court by which to resolve this matter,” added Crawford. “We see this ruling as just another part of our journey in the process.”
Julia Trigg continued, “TransCanada is a foreign corporation using weak eminent domain laws to take property for their own private gain from hard-working Texans. Eminent domain was never intended for this purpose. As a landowner and an American, I support energy independence, but I value our individual and constitutional freedoms more than anything else. I’m continuing my stand for freedom from strangers on our land and freedom from my family’s land being taken from faceless, foreign corporations for their own private greed.”
“In addition to the appeal, our next steps will focus on asking our legislators and fellow citizens to hold public hearings on eminent domain and expose the risks these pipelines pose to those like us living along the routes,” Crawford concluded. “Together we will ask our officials to change the laws that have so far left hundreds of Texans with no other recourse than to go to the courthouse as we have done. Our case is emblematic of those American landowners whose constitutional assurances have been trampled and we will continue to stand up for our rights.”
###
