South Texas roads and pipeline easements become a source of contention when an industry moves in as quick as we've seen in the Eagle Ford. Operators end up negotiating 95% of pipeline right-of-ways, but approximately 5% have to be condemned. That doesn't make for a happy landowner. In addressing road needs, one operator is donating $8,000 per well to a road fund in Dewitt County. Creative solutions will be needed. You can't add heavy trucks to roads without more frequent maintenance. Road funds and increased tax payments will come and in a couple of years it will all equal out. In the mean time, a compliment should go to operators who are acting early in addressing the needs of the communities.
Along with oil and gas prosperity, tricky problems come with the Eagle Ford shale boom.
Roads in small communities are taking a beating from oilfield truck traffic. There's a housing shortage.
And billions of dollars in new pipeline will crisscross the oil and gas play, an eminent domain issue that inevitably will make some private landowners unhappy.
The issues are nothing new in a state with a long history of oil and gas production. But the speed at which drilling activity has ramped up across the Eagle Ford has taken many by surprise.
Read the full news release at mysanantonio.com