Yesterday (August 22, 2013), I was told by two different people in Clarendon that our group of landowners was the reason Valero is not building their pipeline. I would like to correct this misunderstanding.
First, Valero had the right of eminent domain which means that no land owner could obstruct the construction. Second, on May 17, Jem Simmons and I met with Valero representing several land owners along their route. Most of the issues we were addressing related to care for the land and we reached agreement on the vast majority of them. At the end of the meeting, their lawyer committed to rewriting the easement document and getting back to us. We never heard back from them until we received notice yesterday that they are ceasing work on the project. We tried to contact them several times, but they did not respond.
We do not know the reason Valero abandoned the project. They did agree when they did their survey that they would donate money to a charity of our choice if they were to abandon the project. It was not enough to compensate everyone for the work done with Valero; however, some deals do not work out.
Jay O’Brien, Amarillo
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