By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
The land lies dormant, waiting for the promise of spring. Stalks from last year’s cotton crop bend slightly in the breeze. In the heart of the Jim Ned Valley, just outside Abilene, all is well on this chilly day. Except one thing.
A huge swath of land has been ripped apart. The rich red dirt looks almost like a wound in the landscape. When viewed from above, it appears to be a wide dirt road.
But this road doesn’t lead anywhere except heartache and frustration. Three different pipeline companies have claimed eminent domain and wreaked havoc on Bill and Lynne Keys’ land for the past two years.
And there’s no foreseeable end in the future.
Bill trekked across the muddy, rutted path, stooping to pick up construction trash as he talked.
“We have four lines coming across our property,” he said. “It’s just been a real source of frustration. We know we’ve been taken advantage of.”
When Bill and his wife, Lynne, bought her grandmother’s property in Tuscola 21 years ago, they never imagined they’d be in this situation. Instead, they dreamed of gathering families and preserving memories.
The property has been in Lynne’s family for three generations and is fast approaching the century mark. Her grandparents raised cotton, wheat, cattle, pigs, chickens and seven children on the 157-acre farm.
“They settled here in 1924,” Lynne said. “There was no electricity, no running water. It was a dryland farm, and my mom was the baby of the seven children. They’d pick cotton, do whatever it took.”
Lynne and her twin sister, Gwynne, grew up helping on the farm.
Fond memories of family, hard work and comradery abound for both women.
Now, the Keys enjoy having the next generations visit the farm. Bill and Lynne have a daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. Sharing the land and her own childhood memories with them is special, Lynne said.
But in 2016, that all changed.
An old pipeline delivers new troubles
It started when Atmos Energy approached the Keys. A landman representing the company said the Texas Railroad Commission had ordered Atmos to restore an old natural gas pipeline because it was too corroded.
Lynne knew her uncles negotiated a pipeline easement sometime in the ‘70s. What she didn’t know is how badly her farm was about to be damaged.
The landman told the Keys that Atmos just needed to fix about 50 to 75 feet of pipe. But an inspection revealed three miles would have to be completely replaced.
“They did a little check to see if they could just seal it,” Lynne said. “Well, that didn’t work for them, so they came back in 2017, and they told us, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to put in a new pipeline. Sit back and take it.’”
The company asked to use more land than the original easement allowed. It was explained to the Keys as temporary workspace to build a bore hole and assemble pipe. They were told by the landman that boring the new pipeline section would be beneficial because it would keep their pasture in the same condition and would not damage or kill trees.
“We dealt with about three landmen. Then one finally scribbled something on a Google map,” Lynne said. “That’s all we’ve had to hold them to.”
The “temporary workspace” effectively became a highway for the bore project. Heavy machinery crossed their property daily. And the equipment operators, Lynne said, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that it was private property, excavating and dumping debris wherever it was convenient.
And the pasture and trees the company was supposed to preserve? Destroyed.
“Unfortunately, they utilized both of the wetland areas in our pasture, and proceeded to abuse the property, severely contaminate some areas, do things without our permission,” Lynne said. “Totally misrepresenting what they were going to do, and then doing whatever they wanted to do based on their needs of the day.”
The company dumped 21 truckloads of bore mud containing bentonite and other chemicals into a small stock tank on the east side of their property. They also blocked the Keys’ tenant farmer access to his fields, causing a complete wheat crop loss in 2017 and a partial cotton crop loss in 2018.
“What we were told was one thing, and what actually happened was another thing,” Bill said.
It has now been a year-and-a-half si
I suffered thru a similar pipeline crossing on my property, Property I have cleared and grazed since the 80’s, purchasing small parcels with the hope of developing it eventually into 5-10 acre parcels to give me a decent retirement.. I fought them for over a year at a cost of almost what was received in damages. What non land owners don’t understand is my property like yours no longer belongs to me. In title only .They can come and go as they please do what they please and that’s not for a couple years its from now on( forever). My 120 acres is no longer a candidate for housing development. Like yours they cut it in half diagonally. where I might cut out a few home places that don’t have pipeline. Who wants to build their home close to one? We definitely deserve better. I have been a Texan for my entire 64 years and feel let down by Texas as a whole. With no recourse I intend to sell soon.
Pipelines are bad enough, pubic parks and trails are much worse. Texans sure don’t want a mess like they have done in Cali, where the public has turned the land into a public restroom with crime and drugs.
There are several groups, working together to try to take the land on both sides of the creeks and streams in Texas for public parks and trails.
Great story telling! Thank you for sharing.
Sounds like these three companies names should be all over social media until something is fixed. Atmos, Grand Prix and Breviloba. Everyone knows they will probably blame the pipeline contractor and the landman. Because the CEO’s and probably every worker on the pipeline don’t have to live with a pipeline running through there property.
Rural Texas landowners are well aware of the problems caused by the taking of land by eminent domain but as Texas becomes more urban, we need to take our stories to the city dwellers. The same eminent domain problems can come to them at any time. They need to realize that the taking of properties in cities for parks, industrial use or the building of a corporate site that pays more taxes to the city can put them in the same position as it has the rural residents. When they become aware that their own houses and property can be seized or damaged, their perspective of the situation will add weigh to our campaign to change the way property is taken or compensated.
My great grandmother lived in Dallas, TX; she was a single mother of 2. They took property through eminent domain twice. Gave her so little my grandmother ended up in foster care, but we have fair park. The next home they took for road improvement. They tore down her house let the lot sit empty for 50 years then sold it to a convenience store that has trucks regularly blocking their precious road. Eminent domain victimizes everyone it touches and usually for generations. We are the people taken avantage of by the people for the people. Now i hate people i know the system is corrupt, my decendents will know it’s corrupt and i try and make sure that any property i have will not be stolen by this method. I’d rather let an endangered species have it than a disgusting horde of evil.
Eminent domain victimizes everyone it touches and usually for generations. We are the people taken avantage of by the people for the people. Now i hate people i know the system is corrupt, my decendents will know it’s corrupt and i try and make sure that any property i have will not be stolen by this method. I’d rather let an endangered species have it than a disgusting horde of evil.