The Texas Municipal League has adopted a resolution that formally asks the state of Texas to pass legislation that would mandate greater oversight of oil and gas pipeline routing.
The vote took place Oct. 10 at the annual TML conference.
Resolutions that share some similar themes have been passed by local jurisdictions—including the cities of
San Marcos,
Buda,
Kyle and Austin as well as
Hays County and
Hays CISD—over the course of 2019 in the face of the Permian Highway Pipeline, a 430-mile natural gas pipeline that Kinder Morgan plans to build through the Hill Country.
The TML resolution asks for a state regulatory process that would require public input during routing, enable negotiation on the routes, and mandate compliance with economic and environmental study standards, among other items.
Lack of transparency in the
exercise of eminent domain by private pipeline companies as well as the
potential environmental impact of pipelines on sensitive regions have both been the topic o
f legal challenges to Kinder Morgan and
federal and state agencies over the Permian Highway project.
To read the text of the resolution, see the links below:
TML pipeline resolution page 1
TML pipeline resolution page 2
Katharine Jose has written about politics, infrastructure, environment, development, natural disasters and other subjects for The New York Observer, Capital New York, and The New York Times, among other publications. She was an editor for several publicat
