Protesters in Austin try to clog pipeline proposal, support North Texas landowner

AUSTIN, Texas — Private property rights advocates rallied Friday in Austin in support of a Northeast Texas landowner who was in court in Paris to defend the taking of her land by pipeline company TransCanada Corp.

The Calgary-based TransCanada is in the process of trying to secure land in East Texas through the use of eminent domain to possibly run pipeline that would bring Canadian crude to the Texas Gulf Coast through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

But the protesters outside state offices in Austin — along with Julia Trigg Crawford , the landowner in Paris — wanted to send a message to the company and to Texas policymakers: TransCanada shouldn't have the right to take Texans' land. They said the company has gone too far in its use of eminent domain, the process of taking private land for public use.

TransCanada follows the law and treats landowners with "honesty, fairness and respect," company spokesman Terry Cunha said in a statement Friday. He added that TransCanada has easement agreements in place with more than 99 percent of the landowners along the proposed route.

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