Kean Miller represents some of the country’s most prominent energy, chemical, transmission and pipeline companies in a wide variety of pipeline-related legal matters.  For over 35 years, our pipeline lawyers have handled complex transactions, expropriation and land use projects, litigation, pipeline regulatory matters, and environmental regulation within the pipeline industry. 

We have in-depth experience in the sale, purchase, financing, and condemnation of all manner of real property associated with pipeline operations.  Kean Miller has handled numerous pipeline projects from start to finish, including right of way negotiations, purchases, final demands, and expropriation litigation.  When our clients are faced with disputes, they rely on Kean Miller for sophisticated representation in connection with expropriation under federal and state law, declaratory or injunctive actions for access to rights-of-way, property damage claims, trespass and inverse condemnation claims, wetlands loss or damage, contract disputes, property damage, and personal injury.  Our representation has involved underground storage, pipeline rights-of-way, access rights, pipeline ruptures and leaks, surface use of rights of way and easements, and automobile accidents. 

Kean Miller represents pipeline companies in environmental regulation and toxic tort claims in Louisiana.  We have also represented various common carrier pipelines with respect to rate increase filings, ownership transfers and various other regulatory issues, as well as negotiation of transportation agreements and storage agreements.

Kean Miller also represents various companies within the energy field, including pipeline companies, in defense of claims for damage to wetlands as a result of exploration and construction activities.  Our attorneys are well versed on the scientific evidence regarding the various natural and man-made causes of coastal erosion. 

We also represent oil and gas operators and service companies in all manner of personal injury and property damage claims arising from seismic operations, drilling operations, production activities, workover operations, pipeline installation and repair, and platform construction and demolition.
 
Representative Experience:

• Legal representation of interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines, natural gas gathering companies, crude pipelines, natural gas processors, power generators, marketers and distributors, oil and gas producers and chemical manufacturers.

Admiralty and Maritime:

• Representation of a pipeline owner in litigation arising from an oil spill in state territorial waters.

• Representation of a pipeline company against oil and gas company for the destruction of an offshore oil and gas platform as well as eight deaths and multiple personal injuries.

Business, Corporate, and Transactions:

• Lead outside counsel in the representation of a national oil and gas company in the negotiation of a suite of agreements involving the construction of oil and gas export pipelines and the ownership and operation of those lines to gather a.) gas production from a floating platform system situated in the Green Canyon Block 641, Offshore Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico; b.) oil and gas production from a floating platform system situated in the Aliminos Canyon Block 857, offshore Texas in the Gulf of Mexico; and c.) oil and gas production from a semi-submersible floating oil and gas production facility situated in Mississippi Canyon Block 650, offshore Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Representation of a Louisiana gas company in the acquisition and conversion of a Department of Energy strategic petroleum reserve oil pipeline into a gas transmission pipeline. 

• General legal representation of a products pipeline system crossing the state of Louisiana.
  

• Representation of a global energy company in mineral lease and complex oil and gas pipeline negotiations.

Energy Regulation:

• Representation of common carrier pipelines with respect to rate increase filings, ownership transfers and various other regulatory issues, as well as the negotiation of transportation agreements and storage agreements.

Environmental Regulation:

• Representation of a major pipeline company on a regional basis regarding the remediation of PCBs.

• Representation of a Louisiana gas pipeline company in the remediation of mercury from manometers.

• Representation of a regional pipeline in connection with PCB remediation projects throughout the state of Louisiana.

• Representation of a Tennessee gas pipeline in judicial water enforcement actions by the Environmental Protection Agency at several facilities. 

Expropriation and Land Use:

• More than 35 years of expropriation and condemnation experience on behalf of key players in the U.S. pipeline industry. 
  

• Representation of a major pipeline division of a global energy company in a 75-mile pipeline expropriation project from Garyville, Louisiana to East Feliciana Parish, north of Baton Rouge.  The pipeline carries liquified petroleum products.

• Representation of the pipeline division of a major gobal energy and chemical company in the expropriation of a 180-mile ethylene pipeline right of way that extended from Ascension Parish in Louisiana to the Texas border.
  

• Representation of a chemical pipeline company in the expropriation of an 8-mile pipeline in St. Charles Parish.

• Representation of a pipeline company in negotiation of rights of way in West Baton Rouge Parish.

• Representation of the pipeline division of a international energy company in the expropriation of pipeline servitudes throughout South and South-Central Louisiana including negotiations with state, local and regional landowners involving complex compensation and wetlands issues. 

• Representation of a major energy company in a land use cases involving the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development where DOTD sued to acquire land owned by the company for its retail and service station operations.

• Representation of a global energy company in a landmark decision from the Louisiana Supreme Court regarding the appropriate valuation of pipeline servitudes.

• Representation of a gas pipeline company in pipeline right-of-way expropriations, disputes with landowners regarding pipeline access and land use issues, and in cases involving claims for damages and injuries from pipeline incidents.

• Representation of a gas pipeline company in the expropriation of underground gas storage rights, surface easements, and pipeline rights of way for an underground natural gas storage facility in St. James Parish, and in a case involving the public need for pipeline land .   
  

• Representation of interstate and intrastate natural gas and product pipeline companies in acquiring rights of way by expropriation in numerous parishes throughout south Louisiana including a major pipeline project which extended from Houston, Texas to St. James Parish in Louisiana.
  

• Representation of clients in state and federal expropriation and condemnation actions including disputes with landowners concerning property access rights and property damages.

• Representation of an industrial landowner in a case involving the expropriation of land by city, parish and state governmental bodies for roadways and other improvements.

• Representation of a gas pipeline company in three wetlands damage claims in Terrebonne Parish Louisiana brought by the Terrebonne Parish School Board, one of which involved a claim of trespass/inverse condemnation, and all of which were successfully settled. 

Insurance Coverage:

• Representation of a pipeline construction firm in coverage claims involving chemical releases.

Legislative and Administrative:

• Appearances before the Department of Conservation on various issues for  numerous pipeline and energy production companies, and private landowners.

• Representation of major pipeline companies before the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and the Office of Conservation relating to applications for construction, interconnection, contract approval, abandonment and related regulatory issues.

• Representation of common carrier pipelines before the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and the Office of Pipeline Safety with respect to pipeline safety compliance.

• Representation of common carrier pipelines before the Louisiana Public Service Commission with respect to rate increase filings, ownership transfers and various other regulatory issues, as well as the negotiation of transportation agreements and storage agreements, and electric service agreements.

Pipeline Rupture Litigation:

• Representation of  a gas pipeline company in the 21st Judicial District Court in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana.  This matter involved the rupture of a high pressure natural gas pipeline in a rural area of St. Helena Parish.  The rupture caused a fire that burned more than 30 acres of woodlands, primarily used for hunting.  350 residents in the vicinity of the rupture filed a joint petition making claims for personal injury (primary respiratory ailments), fear and fright, and punitive damages.  The matter was removed to federal court on grounds of diversity jurisdiction, but ultimately remanded to the state court on grounds that the amount in dispute for each claimant did not exceed the jurisdictional amount of $75,000.  The matter was settled at the trial court level.

• Representation of a pipeline company in consolidated cases in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.  In this case we represented our client in connection with the release of over one million gallons of gasoline from a 40" interstate pipeline in St Helena Parish, La.  The gasoline contaminated a drinking water aquifer and soluble constituents (MTBE/BTEX) leached into surface waters in a nearby recreational creek. We defended our client in a class action lawsuit, resulting in a favorable class settlement well below the potential liability predicted by mock jury trials. We also represented Colonial in related enforcement action instituted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and assisted the company’s outside counsel in connection with claims by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department.

• Representation of a gas pipeline company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  In this case we represented our client in connection with landowners' lawsuit related to the rupture of a natural gas pipeline and resulting release of natural gas condensate into a saltwater marsh. We are also engaged in representing the companies in connection with Natural Resource Damages (NRDA) claims by the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator Office (LOSCO) and federal and state trustees which include NOAA and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

• Representation of a gas pipeline company in a wrongful death action and personal injury action, respectively, arising out of an automobile accident cause by flooding of a highway, allegedly caused by an undersized and plugged culvert owned by our client.